Food-themed festivals abound in Oregon and Washington, many celebrating the region’s bounty, everything from oysters to artisan cheese and microbrews. Here’s a sampling of the region’s most popular annual events.
February
- The Oregon Seafood and Wine Festival (www.oregonfoodfestival.com) celebrates both the Dungeness crab from the Pacific Ocean and wines from the state’s vineyards with tasting opportunities and live music.
March
- Held in Seattle at Anthony’s Homeport on Shilshole Bay, the Oyster Games (www.pugetsoundkeeper.org) features a Celebrity Oyster Slurp event, plus art exhibits, live entertainment, oyster-friendly wines, microbrews and plenty of oysters.
- Portland’s Spring Beer & Wine Fest (www.springbeerfest.com) is a beverage exposition featuring food, music and regional microbrews, wines and distilled spirits.
April
- One of Portland’s premier food and wine tasting events, Taste of the Nation Portland (www.portlandtaste.org) features more than 70 Oregon chefs and restaurants, plus 40 wineries and microbrews.
- Seattle’s Taste Washington (www.tastewashington.org) includes wine seminars and a Grand Tasting event. Over 200 Washington wineries and food from over 75 restaurants are featured.
May
- Two events at Seattle’s Pike Place Market are the Seattle Cheese Festival (www.seattlecheesefestival.com), which celebrates local cheese artisans and cheese in general, and Pike Place Festival (www.pikeplacemarketstreetfestival.com), which offers cooking demonstrations by local chefs, wine and cheese tasting and a beer garden.
- Wine experts select 40 wineries whose annual production is less than 2,000 cases to showcase at the Portland Indie Wine Festival (www.indiewinefestival.com).
July
- The International Pinot Noir Celebration (www.ipnc.org) in McMinnville, Ore., features three days of seminars, tastings, tours and food paired with Oregon’s renowned pinot noir wines.
- Craft breweries from around the U.S. bring their beers to Portland’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park at the four-day Oregon Brewers Festival (www.oregonbrewfest.com), the largest gathering of independent brewers in the country.
- Held at Seattle Center, Bite of Seattle (www.biteofseattle.com) offers tastes from over 50 local restaurants, 25 Washington wineries and 30 food product vendors.
August
- Benefitting Special Olympics Oregon, Portland’s Bite of Oregon (www.biteoforegon.com) presents live music, chef’s demonstrations and food and wine from local purveyors.
September
- Seattle’s quirky Fremont neighborhood is the site for Oktoberfest (www.fremontoktoberfest.org), which combines a vintage car show with beers from craft vendors.
October
- Located an hour east of Portland in Hood River, Ore., the Hood River Valley Harvest Fest (www.hoodriverfestical.com) celebrates the bounty of this fruit-growing region with music, food and wine.
November
- The Holiday Wine Fest (www.spokanewineries.net) in Spokane, Wash., features local wines and gourmet food.
