We are Still Cooking Up the 2009 Festival Details and will Update this Page Soon. Meanwhile Here's What We Served and the Music We Played for Our Visitors Last Summer!

Chew Chew Information Depot

BUY LOCAL AT THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CHEW CHEW FOOD FEST

"Buy Local" is the theme for the 23rd annual Green Mountain Chew Chew Food & Music Festival, coming to Burlington's magnificent Waterfront Park on the shores of Lake Champlain over the weekend of June 27th, 28th, and 29th.

In addition to the local restaurant community serving up a menu with nearly 75 different food items, Vermont's Agency of Agriculture is sponsoring a brand new "Buy Local" tent showcasing Vermont Food Producers selling packaged, locally produced specialty food items to take home and enjoy long after the festival closes. The Buy Local tent will be located near the festival main gate so that packaged food purchases can be made and held until the customer is on the way home for convenience.

Vermont's favorite family-oriented feeding frenzy is nearly weather-proof with seating for eating for 500 diners under two tents. The main entertainment tent has been moved closer to the food tents and reconfigured to seat 400 people at tables and another 100 seat "quiet tent" provides a stunning view of Lake Champlain.

There are more than 40 brand new menu items served in the three food tents. Each booth, representing some of Vermont's finest restaurants, caterers and food producers, will serve three of their tastiest menu items, one of which must be different from last year's Chew Chew menu with no duplication of dishes allowed.

Along with old favorites, six brand new restaurants and food producers have signed on to this year's festival for the first time. Sam Mazza Farms will serve their own fresh strawberry shortcake and fudge-dipped strawberries straight from the fields. Tilley's Café will serve their delicious Crab Cakes, M-Saigon is bringing traditional Vietnamese BBQ pork, New Moon will serve raspberry pecan bars and cold-pressed coffee and Pakistani Foods' booth will feature chicken tikka and beef tikka kabobs. Couture's Maple Shop is twirling maple cotton candy and maple creemees and Bueno Y Sano will cook fish tacos, Thai chicken wraps and char-grilled jalapenos, together bringing 18 new food items to the Chew Chew Menu. Last year's sumptuous superstar servers, The Lincoln Inn will again fire up their Chicken & Pineapple Skewers, Vermont Tent/Dismas House will squeeze Fresh Lemonade and roast Corn on the Cob, Gyros Pita will be served by Ahli Baba's Kabob Shop and Big Fatty's BBQ will offer Burlington's favorite Pulled Pork Sliders.

The Green Mountain Chew Chew Food & Music Festival has always been a showcase for great Vermont music has always been a major attraction at the Chew Chew. And this year, 13 of the region's favorite bands and one from Seattle playing a variety of musical styles will perform from two free stages throughout the weekend.

Friday at the Chew Chew, Mango Jam performs on the Kiss The Cook Stage on the east side of the food tents. And in the big tent at the north end of the festival grounds, KOOL 105 presents Rumble Doll and The Hitmen.

On Saturday, Bob Jr. and the Martini Gardeners from Manchester, New Hampshire, The Starlings from Seattle and Montpelier's Colin McCaffrey all perform on the Kiss The Cook Stage. It's radio band day in the big tent featuring The WDEV Radio Rangers, WOKO's Rick & The Ramblers Western Swing Band and, making a first Vermont appearance, North Country Public Radio's Radio Bob Band from Canton, New York.

Sunday, the 10-piece East Bay Jazz Ensemble and The Blue Gardenias, featuring Amber deLaurentis, Juliet McVicker and Taryn Noelle play the big tent. The Kiss The Cook stage will feature Past The Point and Lucky Penny on Sunday afternoon. Saturday and Sunday WVMT's Charlie Papillo leads a wacky program of interactive children's games on the FairPoint Communicatons Kid's Stage where Joey the Clown will also appear Saturday afternoon.

The Green Mountain Chew Chew Food & Music Festival begins serving both Friday and Saturday from 11 am until 9 pm and Sunday from Noon until 6 pm, rain or shine under 35,000 square feet of tents. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children 12 and under with the first 1,000 kids' tickets free, courtesy of FairPoint Communications. Admission tickets are only available at the gate. Food and beverage purchases are by brass tokens only, sold in quantities of nine tokens for $5 from three token depots. Each vendor can serve one food item priced at four tokens and their other two items must be priced at three tokens or less. Advance brass Chew Chew food tokens are available exclusively at Hannaford Supermarkets in Burlington, South Burlington, Williston, Milton, Essex, St. Albans and Plattsburgh.

The Green Mountain Chew Chew is held in Burlington's magnificent Waterfront Park located at the foot of College Street on the shore of Lake Champlain. Waterfront Park is adjacent to two downtown parking lots, a block north of Lake Champlain Transportation's King Street ferry dock, is on the City of Burlington Bike Path and is an easy walk or CCTA College Street Shuttle Bus ride from the Church Street Marketplace.

An electric-powered Chew Chew Trolley will offer free rides up the Waterfront from the front door of ECHO Lake Aquarium at the foot of College Street to the Festival Main Gate, courtesy of Burlington Town Center, ECHO Lake Aquarium and Vermont Rail Systems.

A special excursion Champlain Valley Flyer Chew Chew Train will run Saturday and Sunday from Charlotte, Shelburne and South Burlington directly to the festival site on Burlington's historic waterfront. Call Vermont Railway at (800)707-3530 or visit their web site at www.rails-vt.com for more information.

The Green Mountain Chew Chew is sponsored by Pepsi, Hannaford Supermarkets, Vermont's Agency of Agriculture, FairPoint Communications, The Burlington Free Press, WVNY/22, Fox44, 98.9WOKO, KOOL 105, North Country Public Radio, ECHO Lake Aquarium & Science Center, Burlington Town Center, Vermont Rail System, Vermont Arts Council, Long Trail, Kiss The Cook, The Marine Collection, Mug Root Beer and Apple Mountain.

And a Heartfelt Thank You goes out to the dozens and dozens of Staff and Crew who help to make the Chew Chew run so smoothly! And, of course... those terrific area Restaurants and Vermont Food Producers who are the Heart and Soul of The Vermont Food Fest: The Green Mountain Chew Chew!