Patio Girlz

The Patio Girlz were on the road again, at least two of us were. We couldn’t resist the call of the Incredible Edibles Festival in Trent Hills, Ontario. This annual one day festival, now in its 9th year, is held in the town of Campbellford located on the shores of the Trent River.

Despite heavy traffic across the bridge and through the streets adjacent to the festival, we lucked out and found a very convenient parking spot behind the food vendors. The street was abuzz with over 40 food vendors and we commenced our explorations at the Rice Lake Cider vendor sampling three different flavours of cider.

We passed by vendors selling carmel corn, various baked goods, hamburgers, jerk chicken, BBQ, cheese and a whole lot more. Mexican, Asian, sweet, spicy: there was something for every palette. Given there were so many tempting choices we became strategic, deciding to share a variety of offerings so we could sample more dishes! After our very refreshing dry cider samples we walked the full length of the food vendor section before selecting sesame balls. Sesame balls are similar to a donut hole, but filled with goodness. We also sampled a BBQ’d cannoli shell filled with meat, rolled in bacon and covered in BBQ sauce which was excellent. I also couldn’t resist the wood fired pizza, so we split one of those as well.

Feeling very full we wandered through the 20 + artisans tents admiring the many talents of the vendors. Fibre art, woodworking, photography, candles and soaps.

Once we felt we had thoroughly explored the festival offerings, we turned our attention to the shops located on Bridge Street. A few more food related stops, one to Dooher’s Bakery and one for Kawartha Dairy ice cream and our festival experience was complete.

Across the Trent River from the festival is Old Mill Park, home to the giant toonie, ($2 dollar coin) that stands 28 feet high and 18 feet in diameter. The coin was designed by artist Brent Townsend who lived in the area and features a polar bear on an ice flow. A giant coin has graced the park since 1996.

Down river from the festival is the Ranny Gorge Suspension Bridge, so of course, I needed to stop and drag Pat across the bridge. The suspension bridge hangs 30’ above the gorge and is 300 feet long. You can feel it sway gently below your feet as you cross, which Pat noted right away as she hung onto the hand railing. The bridge is part of the Trans Canada Trail and links into the trail system in Ferris Provincial Park on the east side of the river. It is very scenic looking up toward the rapids or down river, which begged for a few selfies and other photos.

To round out our day, on the way home we stopped at one of our preferred patios and were treated to a watermelon and gin drink, homemade Boursin and cool breezes.

It was a great day and certainly we will be back to Campbellford soon to visit the places we missed and maybe have lunch on a riverside patio like the Dockside Bistro. Until then… CHEERS!