It was a perfect day for the sweetest day of year in downtown Midland.
Though the weather was a concern before the big day, it turned around in a convenient way for Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival.
The Midland Cultural Centre’s Rotary Hall hosted amateur and professional bakers who wanted to enter their creations into the competition and win prizes.
There are three categories that are judged by a panel of experts and others including actor Sugith Varughese, Matt and Tara from Fresh Mornings, Barb Rowlandson, founder of the festival, and Mayor Bill Gordon.
They are tasked with judging tarts in the traditional category, which includes raisin, non-raisin, walnut, maple, and coconut varieties, a wild-style category, which always produces kooky and inventive flavours, and best in show, which crowns the overall winner.
The following bakers were the winners this year:
- Traditional amateur/home — Melanie Carrigan (pecan butter tart)
- Traditional expert — Lindsay Haddock (maple pecan butter tart)
- Wild-style amateur/home — Sharon Rendell (double coffee crisp butter tart)
- Wild-style professional — Joanne Chappelle (classic with chocolate and house-made potato chips)
- Best in show — Joanne Chappelle (classic with chocolate and house-made potato chips)
Though the official tally has yet to be announced, Karen Mealing, the town’s manager of culture and community, estimated attendance to be between 50,000 and 60,000.
As for how 2023’s festival compared to the past events, Mealing said, “We’ve added a kid zone; Egg Farmers of Ontario is sponsoring the contest; it was a great success and we’ve expanded the overall footprint of the festival.”
Gordon deemed the event a success.
“Based on wandering around all day, this feels like a banner year. This feels like the new normal. Last year, we were coming out of the pandemic. Things were good, but this year feels better,” he said.
“The economic spin-off is difficult to measure. Let me hear the anecdotal response from the community and the merchants, especially around the downtown core. I expect it will be rave reviews.”
This was the second year Sarah-Anne Lahaie was a vendor at the festival. The director of retail operations with Event Horizon Hobbies, a local game store and café, said, “The weather is much more convenient this time around. It seems to be lasting longer than it did before, (and there was a) really good turnout.”