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Tag: festival PR

A Spicy Peek into the 11th Pepper Fest

A Spicy Peek into the 11th Pepper Fest

October 8, 2018January 31, 2023 Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Real Estate PRBriar Chapel, festival PR, food pr, real estate marketing, real estate PRLeave a Comment on A Spicy Peek into the 11th Pepper Fest

Spice and sweet heat. Bands and brews. Art and activities. Families and fun at every turn!

On September 23, 2018, Clairemont client Briar Chapel opened its Great Meadow park to host the 11th Annual Pepper Festival in partnership with Abundance NC. As one of the largest chef competitions in the Triangle, the Pepper Fest challenges top chefs and brewers to craft their most creative recipes using the locally bred and grown North Carolina pepper. This year’s Go Wild theme invited artisans to also showcase foraged ingredients to raise the awareness of North Carolina’s bounty.

Festivalgoers sampled a mouthwatering smorgasbord of bites and brews, from spicy mojitos to sweet pepper nut butter. The foodie roster featured culinary cornerstones ranging from Harvest 18, Saint Jacques French Cuisine and City Kitchen to Tribeca Tavern and creative food trucks. Award-winning brewers and distillers, such as Fullsteam, Mystery Brewing, TOPO, Carolina Brewing and Bull City Ciderworks, proffered a menu of zesty beverages, beers and liquor cocktails.

And this year, we crowned a new court of foodie winners!

2018 Pepper Festival Awards

  • “Feeling Spirited” – Best Spirit:  Fairgame Distillery
  • “Ale Drink to That” – Best Beer/Cider/Mea:  Honey Girl Meadery
  • “Most Loved Libation” – Best in Show Drink: HomeBucha
  • “The Savory Stunner” – Best Savory Dish: Little River Eco Farm 
  • “My Sweet Heat” – Best Sweet Dish:  Big Spoon Roasters
  • “The Double Take” – Most Creative Dish: Fusion Fish
  • “The Platinum Pepper” – Best in Show:  The Food Fairy
  • “The Staff Sweetheart” – Most Local:  Angelina’s Kitchen
  • “Best Volunteer”: Norma Yanik
  • “Best Farm”: Honey Bee Farms

Kids played the day away at Pepperpalooza, featuring bubble art, face painting and wacky storytelling. Guests jammed out to all-day bluegrass tunes from Elis Dyson and the Shambles, voted “Best Local Band,” along with ZamBamBooGee. This year’s festival welcomed a record 3,000 festivalgoers!

Best of all, the proceeds of the Pepper Fest benefit Abundance NC, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting sustainable food and fuels. We always love a good foodie festival, especially one that helps 200 local farmers who would not otherwise be in business!

Want to see some of our other fun work with Briar Chapel? Give it a gander!

Blog post originally appeared on BriarChapelNC.com. Cover image from Greg Stewart Photography.

 

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The Power of One Pepper

The Power of One Pepper

February 27, 2017January 31, 2023 Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Real Estate PRBriar Chapel, festival PR, Food Festivals, food pr, Pepper Festival, Restaurant PR

What started with one lowly tobago pepper has heated up to be the largest food festival of its kind in the Southeast! The Annual Pepper Festival, hosted by Abundance NC and Clairemont client Briar Chapel, now tops the charts as a spicy celebration of North Carolina cooking, music, fashion and culture — and all to support sustainable food and fuels.

But few hot events come out of the gate with 2,200 attendees, 50 competing chefs and an award-winning roster of bluegrass bands. As we approach the 10th Annual Pepper Festival this fall, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the fun milestones along the way.

2008: One Pepper, One Dream

Enter 40 friends who gathered at the Piedmont BioFarm (part of nonprofit Abundance NC) to engage in a little spicy sampling. Farmer Doug had long been dreaming up a seed-saving program to cultivate vegetables suited specifically for the North Carolina climate. Doug began growing, breeding and testing his favorite food —  peppers, but he needed palates to taste and assess his new produce. Hence, the first Pepper Fest was born! Angelina brought food (to wash down the peppers, she says!), and the sustainably minded, spice-loving friends noshed their way through almost 50 varieties of Farmer Doug’s peppers.

2009: The Second Amazing Pittsboro Pepper Festival

The Pepper Festival coined its first official name, Habanero Beer from Triangle Brewing Company made its debut, bands hit the scene, and a dozen chefs joined the fray to craft pepper-themed dishes. Briar Chapel began partnering with Abundance NC to support the festival and promote the organizations’ common goals of sustainability.

2010: Royalty Takes the Stage

This year witnessed the coronation of the first Pepper King and Pepper Queen, a tradition that still stands today. The Pepper popularity spread like wildfire with 500 attendees at the festival!

2011: A New Location!

Briar Chapel hosted the Pepper Festival first time at Boulder Park in Briar Chapel. As the largest green community in the Triangle, the partnership between Briar Chapel and Abundance NC to further sustainable lifestyles just made sense! Attendance hit quadruple digits, and more than a dozen community organizations joined forces with Briar Chapel and Abundance to take part in the Festival.

 

2012: Spice for the Whole Family

Pepper Fest added a bevy of family activities (like a vegetable circus, face painting and hula hooping). For a little extra fun, they added red-clad, pepper-themed acrobats! A record of 35 chefs and artisans fired up the culinary contest.

2013: Now We’re Winning Awards

This year, The News & Observer named the Fest as one of the “Must-Do Food Events of 2013.” Attendance skyrocketed to 1,500 festivalgoers with a record $20,000 proceeds raised.

2014: A New Location (Again!)

The Pepper Fest outgrew Boulder Park and made its debut at the all-new Linear Park at Briar Chapel. This year featured a judging panel of food and beverage experts along with a new array of dishes — from pepper chocolate to North Carolina’s inaugural batch of pepper jelly beer. And the scales reported that the chefs used a whoppin’ 800 pounds of peppers!

 2015: One of the Largest in the State

The Pepper Fest claimed the spot as one of the largest chef competitions in the state with 45 chefs and artisans. In addition, the Pepper fest debuted Pepperpalooza, kid-friendly activities to provide hands-on education about local agriculture with creative workshops like “Food Fonts” and “The Insane Science of Fairyland.”

2016: Kid Chefs, Fashion Shows and Pepper Personality Quizzes

Briar Chapel added zest and zip with the inaugural Kid Chef Competition and “Hot Glam” Pepper Fashion Show. Festival fans could find out how spicy their personalities were with the Pepper Fest Personality Quiz. In addition to a record 2,200 attendees and 50 chefs and brewers, the Pepper Fest celebrated raising approximately $100,000 over nine years to support more than 200 farmers who wouldn’t otherwise be in business.

 

 2017: It’s the Big 10! 

What do you think we’ll cook up this year? Tune in on September 24, 2017, the spiciest day of the year (and the date of the 10th Annual Pepper Festival). Who knows — we might even break a Guinness World Record!

 

 

Images courtesy of Briar Chapel.

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Hot Glam Fashion

Hot Glam Fashion

October 14, 2016January 31, 2023 Dana PhelpsBlog, Marketing, Photo of the WeekBriar Chapel, Chapel Hill, festival PR, Pepper Festival, Public Relations

We are dedicating our blog each Friday of this month to one of our favorite events of the year, Abundance NC’s Pepper Festival. Thanks to our client, Briar Chapel, for hosting this important community event and involving us in it for the past several years. On October 2, together with the teams at Abundance NC and Briar Chapel (and 2,000 or so of our closest friends), we celebrated the 9th annual Pepper Festival.

This photo collage shows a new element for our 2016 Pepper Festival, the Hot Glam fashion show.

Wondering what in the heck the Pepper Festival is? Read all about it in some of our other blog posts.

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Pepper Festival’s Perkiest Person

Pepper Festival’s Perkiest Person

October 7, 2016January 31, 2023 Dana PhelpsBlog, Clairemont Client News, Photo of the WeekBriar Chapel, festival marketing, festival PR, food festival, Pepper Festival, Public Relations

We are dedicating our blog each Friday of this month to one of our favorite events of the year, Abundance NC’s Pepper Festival. Thanks to our client, Briar Chapel, for hosting this important community event and involving us in it for the past several years. On October 2, together with the teams at Abundance NC and Briar Chapel (and 2,000 or so of our closest friends), we celebrated the 9th annual Pepper Festival.

In this photo collage, Clairemont’s own Cherith Andes is called from her behind-the-scenes role to take center stage, as she’s honored with the Perkiest Pepper Person award in recognition for all she has done the past few years for this festival. It was my favorite Pepper Festival moment EVER. Thank you for all you do for our all of our clients, Cherith! Well deserved!

Wondering what in the heck the Pepper Festival is? Read all about it in some of our other blog posts.

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Mighty Mentors & Pepper Proteges

Mighty Mentors & Pepper Proteges

September 23, 2016January 31, 2023 Cherith AndesBlog, Photo of the Week, Real Estate PRabundance NC, Briar Chapel, festival PR, food festival, food pr, Pepper Festival

WHAT is that?

On October 2, Briar Chapel‘s 9th Annual Pepper Festival is spicing up the agenda with its inaugural Kid Chef Competition! Six of the Triangle’s top chefs pair up with aspiring kid chefs to compete for title of “Pint-Sized Pepper King or Queen.”

We snapped this shot at the first meet and greet between chefs and kiddos as they sliced, diced, tasted and tried the gamut of pepper flavors and plotted their recipes for the festival. Teddy Klopf (left), executive chef of Provenance in downtown Raleigh, mentors his protege (and the protege’s excited sibling!)…and those expressions said it all!

Feeling zesty? Nab your tickets to the Pepper Festival, or find out once and for all: how spicy is your personality?

 

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