Portland’s 1st Annual Cowabunga Farm-To-Table Festival Comes to Rossi Farms & Benefits Oregon Food Bank

June 20, 2018 – Here in Portland, we embrace our international reputation as the foodie city. We are known for our vibrant restaurant scene, award-winning chefs, and artisanal, locally sourced ingredients. And it’s true: We care about what we eat, where it comes from, what it pairs with, what imprint it leaves behind, and of course, an Instagram-worthy plate. In Portland, farm–to–table isn’t just a restaurant concept—it’s a way of life.

At Portland Monthly’s inaugural Cowabunga All-You-Can-Eat Food Festival, we’ll celebrate everything we love about living—and eating—in Portland. With three days of tastings, demos, and competitions featuring all-star chefs, brewers, winemakers, distillers, farmers, and ranchers, it will be a weekend like no other.

Cowabunga generously supports Oregon Food Bank and their mission to eliminate hunger and its root causes through public policy, local food systems work, nutrition and garden education, health care screening, and innovative programming.

“We can’t fight hunger in our community without amazing partnerships with local farms, producers, grocers, restaurants, and Portlanders who care about ending food insecurity,” says Amber Lindsey, Director of Marketing and Communications at Oregon Food Bank. “We look forward to the inaugural festival dedicated to celebrating and bringing all of us together to feed the human spirit.”

Held at historic Rossi Farms, Portland’s oldest working farm, located off 122nd avenue in the Parkrose neighborhood, guests will enjoy the incredible mecca our state has to offer and meet the farmers who help make Portland’s culinary scene one of the richest on the planet.

Plus, the weekend’s headlining event held on Saturday night, will resurrect the annual Parkrose Community Barn Bash. In collaboration with the Rossis, Cowabunga’s Barn Bash will feature seven of the city’s freshest brewmasters serving up two of their favorite ales, beef-tastic bites from Portland’s favorite chefs, live entertainment, and down-home fun. At the end of the night, we’ll crown Barn Bash’s People’s Choice and Judges’ Choice, Best Beer, Best Bite, and Best Pairing.

The finale is a perennial favorite: Country Brunch, Portland Monthly’s long-running all-star tribute to the city’s key weekend pastime. As always, some of our best morning masters will serve iconic bites, while the Bloody Mary Smackdown unfolds in all its gory, invigorating glory. Brunch destinations like Besaw’s, La Moule, and new Simpatica project La Luna Cafe join cult favorites like shell smashers Fried Egg I’m in Love. The “cup de grace,” of course, is our annual Bloody Mary smackdown, this year featuring rising newcomers like Palomar, Hey Love, and Tanner Creek alongside Renata and Red Star.

Schedule of Events:

Photo by Erin Lodi courtesy of Portland Monthly

Seared benefiting Oregon Food Bank
Friday 7/13: 7:30–10:30 p.m.

In collaboration with Zeph Shepard, rebel butcher and owner of Proletariat Butchery, Friday night’s VIP dinner will celebrate the bounty of Oregon in a spectacular in-your-face dining experience. Featuring beef aged, rubbed, and cooked over three open-flame pits; welcome oysters provided Jaret Foster and Mona Johnson of Tourant and PDX Social Club; and farm-fresh sides created by Shauna Galante of Secret Language, paired with Glenfiddich, Oregon pinots, and more.

Photo by Jason DeSomer courtesy of Portland Monthly

Farm Out benefiting Oregon Food Bank
Day Tastings, Workshops, and Demos
Saturday 7/14: 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

At Farm Out, guests will tie their aprons and join Portland’s top butchers, bakers, chefs, and farmers to experience farm–to–table firsthand. Featuring chef demos every 30 minutes across the Full Moo, Veg Out, and Good to the Grain tents, plus tastings, cookbook signings, and farm-fresh products to take home.

Photo by Erin Lodi courtesy of Portland Monthly

Barn Bash benefiting Parkrose School District
Saturday 7/14: 7–10:30 p.m. (VIPs at 6:30 p.m.)

At Saturday night’s Barn Bash, Portland’s top chefs will highlight their best BBQ bites, from burgers and brisket to tripe tacos and fully loaded nachos. Plus, we’ll bring the freshest brewmasters in the city, to serve up two of their favorite ales for guests to taste and vote for their favorites. Featuring Gateway Brewing, Pono Brewing, Breakside, and more, plus whiskey tastings, live music, vintage Westerns, and cow roping, Barn Bash promises down-home fun for all!

Photo by Jason DeSomer courtesy of Portland Monthly

Family-Friendly Country Brunch benefiting Oregon Food Bank
Sunday 7/15: 11 a.m.–2 p.m. (VIPs at 10:30 a.m.)

A one-of-a-kind family funday and celebration of the city’s best brunch, featuring a breakfast-in-bed photo booth, lawn games, live music, and our 7th annual Bloody Mary Smackdown.

Participating Chefs & Restaurants:
Proletariat Butchery, Tournant, Secret Language, Ringside Steakhouse, Carman Ranch, Umi Organic, Domingo Brothers, Sugar Pine Drive-In, Nate Tilden of Bar Casa Vale, DOC, Taqueria Nueve, South Fork, Tanager Farms, Fox and Bear, Food Historian Heather Arndt Anderson, Rubinette, Raven and Rose, Smokehouse Tavern, Scott Dolich of Park Kitchen, Taqueria Nueve, Yakuza, Pono Brewing, Breakside Brewing, Gateway Brewing, Little Beast, Fried Egg I’m in Love, Besaw’s, La Moule, Nonna, La Luna Café, Red Star Tavern, Hey Love, Proof Reader, Renata, Palomar, and Tanner Creek Tavern.

Cowabunga is generously supported by our founding partners:
Toyota, Rossi Farms, Effen Vodka, Cambia Health Solutions, Laura’s Lean Beef, Moonstruck Chocolate, Pelican Brewing, Painted Hills Natural Beef, SakeOne, Glenfiddich, Fournier Group, Carman Ranch, Wild Roots Vodka, SilverFire Stoves, Certified Angus, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Big Green Egg, Country Natural Beef and Oregon Country Beef, Jason Mendell of Cascade Sotheby’s, Adelsheim, Alit Wines, Bergström Wines, Colene Clemens Vineyards, Adega Northwest, Le Cadeau Vineyard, Oregon Food Bank, and the Parkrose Community of Portland.

Ticket prices range from $20 to $300 and can be purchased at cowabunga.pdxmonthly.com.

Media Contact:
Emily Wyant
ewyant@sagacitymedia.com
971.200.7053

About Portland Monthly
Portland Monthly chronicles, challenges, and celebrates one of America’s most innovative cities, inspiring readers to explore and shape the vibrant metropolis we call home.

About Oregon Food Bank
Oregon Food Bank works to eliminate hunger and its root causes … because no one should be hungry. Oregon Food Bank believes that hunger starves the human spirit, that communities thrive when people are nourished, and that everyone deserves healthy and fresh food. Oregon Food Bank helps feed the human spirit of 740,000 people through a food distribution network of 21 regional food banks serving Oregon and Clark County, Washington. Oregon Food Bank also leads statewide efforts to increase resources for hungry families and to eliminate the root causes of hunger through public policy, local food systems work, nutrition and garden education, health care screening, and innovative programming. Find out how to feed the human spirit at oregonfoodbank.org.

About SagaCity Media
SagaCity Media Inc. is the parent company of the preeminent lifestyle media brands in Portland, Seattle, Houston, Sarasota, Aspen, Vail, and Park City. In their respective markets, Portland Monthly, Seattle Met, Houstonia, and Sarasota produce the largest-selling magazines, most-visited local lifestyle websites, and industry-dominating numbers of engaged social media followers. SagaCity also proudly produces web content and publications elsewhere, many of them award-winning, for conventions and visitors bureaus or lodging associations in such markets as Portland, Seattle, Washington state, Bellevue, Tacoma, Galveston, Aurora (CO), and Vancouver (WA).