The Chincoteague Blueberry Festival
Midsummer on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is a celebration of much that is wonderful about America. Sunny beaches, blue skies, and families on vacation all converge on Chincoteague Island at midsummer, and Mother Nature does her part with an abundance of blueberries which begin to ripen around Independence Day. Though there are no blueberries grown commercially on Chincoteague Island, it has never stopped them from celebrating nature's tastiest and most healthy gift. In fact, these tasty morsels are bought from growers in New Jersey and they are some of the biggest, juiciest and most delicious gourmet blueberries available anywhere.
Blueberries are one of the small handful of fruits native to the North American continent. They were a dietary staple for the American Indian tribes who named Chincoteague the Beautiful Land across the Water, and blueberries are now known to be one of the healthiest of all foods.
The annual Chincoteague Island Blueberry Festival has been honoring blueberries for more than two decades, and is the kickoff event for the highlight of Chincoteague's Year; Pony Penning Week. The Blueberry Festival, in 2008, was expanded from a two to a three-day event and for that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the Chincoteague Center was the place to be if you wanted to enjoy some of the best blueberry eating south of Maine. The Chincoteague Blueberry Festival is held at the beautiful, air-conditioned Chincoteague Center on 6155 Community Drive, Chincoteague Island, VA 23336.
Blueberries in the hands of gourmet cooks can be transformed into blueberry soup, blueberry muffins, blueberry ice cream, blueberry pudding, blueberry crisp, blueberry shortcake, and the all-American classic, blueberry pie. This is why so many local home chefs buy the festival blueberries by the 10 lb boxes and freeze them for future blueberry-inspired concoctions.
The Blueberry Pie served at the Blueberry Festival is supplied by the island's favorite bakery Sugarbakers. Everyone who samples this amazing culinary creation proclaims it to be the best blueberry pie they have ever tasted, especially if you pair it with a scoop of homemade blueberry ice cream from the Island Creamery who prepare this delicacy especially for the festival.
Add to this mouth-watering mix the "to die for" old-fashioned, made from scratch Blueberry Shortcake from Dianna James and you see why so many people visit the festival on multiple days.
And and one more note on the subject of delicious food; the more substantial offerings for both breakfast and lunch are provided by Pepper Jack Grill. Jay and Annie Setren and their veteran crew serve up everything from blueberry pancakes and sausage to Quesadillas and fish tacos, refreshing salads(with blueberry vinagerette, of course), and much more.
When visitors to the Blueberry Festival weren't eating themselves blue in the face, they could spend hours wandering among the booths of over a hundred of the best artists and crafters east of Mississippi.
The Chincoteague Island Blueberry Festival has become the largest Fine Arts and Crafts event on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with exhibitors traveling from 12 states.
The sheer diversity of handmade items at the Chincoteague Blueberry Festival is breathtaking to say the least. The festival has become the premier "Christmas in July" Craft shopping experience on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Hand-crafted jewelry, original paintings and wood carvings, delightful handmade soaps and personal care products, stained glass, pottery and garden statuary are just a few of the annual offerings from the Blueberry Festival's exhibitors. the success of earlier exhibitors has been so great that those now participating take up all the Chincoteague Center's interior space and spill out onto its lawns, where shoppers can enjoy the midsummer sun and refreshing bay breezes along with the marvelous wares. A complete list of participating exhibitors is available at www.chincoteagueblueberryfestival.com
It is on the green space of the Chincoteague Center where the visitors to the Blueberry Festival can enjoy the foot-stomping, crowd-pleasing music from local and regional bluegrass musicians. In 2008, Mountain Faith, a family band of musicians from Ashville, NC delighted the festival with there positive music.
Some of the longest lines at the Chincoteague Blueberry Festival are those of people waiting for their share of the freshly-picked Gourmet Blueberries, which can (and really should, if you want to be sure you get some) be pre-ordered.
In 2008, the Chincoteague Blueberry Festival donated its share of the profits from the sale of fresh blueberries to the Chincoteague library expansion project. Over $600 was raised for this worthy cause. The Chincoteague library is a source of great pride for Chincoteague Island as a symbol of the value of continuing education and as a building of historical importance on Main St.
Because of its timing, the Chincoteague Blueberry Festival has become one of the premier festivals in a part of America where festivals are deeply-cherished tradition. Visitors come to Chincoteague from all over the world in anticipation of Pony Penning, and they are eager to return home with unique souvenirs of their stay on the Eastern Shore. The Festival website at http://www.chincoteagueblueberryfestival.com/ provides future exhibitors with the opportunity to lock in their exhibition spaces early.
The Chincoteague Blueberry Festival has a tradition of helping local charities and non-profit groups raise fund to the Eastern Shore's less fortunate residents, and in the past has provided them with Festival space at no cost. That's one more reason why the Festival deserves a place on your calendar of mid-summer must-do's! For more information and discount coupons or to obtain your free ebook entitled "A healthy Taste for Blueberries" by Sam Serio please visit http://www.chincoteagueblueberryfestival.com/ebooksub.php
