On the Waterfront

The Green Mountain Chew Chew Festival [1]expired in 2009 after 24 years. But a new event called the Burlington Wine & Food Festival [2] will give waterfront walkers plenty to chow down on in 2010.

The brainchild of Vermont Wine Merchants’ [3] Mike Stolese, who partnered with Chew Chew’s Rick Norcross, the one-day gig will highlight a wide variety of vino, live music and food from eight area restaurants. So far, L’Amante [4], Miguel’s on Main [5], The Belted Cow Bistro [6], Trattoria Delia [7] and Souza's [8] have signed on.

The eating and sipping will happen in two four-hour sessions on Saturday, June 26. For $40 a head, guests get a wine glass and 15 swigs, a voucher for one food item from a restaurant and unlimited artisan bread and Vermont cheese.

Expect a celebrity guest: Olympic figure-skating gold medalist Peggy Fleming, who’ll be representing the California vineyard she owns with her husband, Greg Jenkins. “They’re awfully nice people,” says Norcross. “Their son works at Burton [9]; that’s the Burlington connection.”

Sounding bemused, Norcross notes how far Burlington has come, taste-wise, since the first Chew Chew Fest 25 years ago. “When I started that festival, Carbur’s was the hot place in Burlington,” he recalls. “There’s a little different bent to this [event].”