The first ever Cork & Fork Festival is coming to the Shenkman Arts Centre on Nov. 7 and 8 with more than 25 wine, beer, spirits and food vendors on hand. Chief organizer Kevin Hurtubise is promising the festival will expose area residents to a wide variety of wine, craft beers and cider combined with delicious food.

The Cork & Fork Festival should help fill the void left by the Ottawa Wine & Food Festival which has been cancelled for the second year in a row.

The inaugural event will have a local flavour to it with many of the wine and beer vendors coming from the Ottawa area and Eastern Ontario such as Domaine Perrault in Navan; Vignoble Clos du Vully in Leonard; and the Stray Dog Brewery and the Orléans Brewing Co. from right here in Orléans.

Other wineries that will be on hand include Chateau des Charmes and the Strewn Winery from Niagara; Huff Estates, Casa-Dea Estates Winery, Trail Estates Winery and Sandbanks Winery from Prince Edward County; the KIN Winery from Carp and the Scheuermann Winery from Westport.

Afficiandos of a good glass of beer or cider will appreciate the additional presence of Broadhead Brewery, the Clocktower Brew Pub, the Whiprsnapr Brewing Company and the Burst Cider Co. The food vendors include Meatings Catering, OCCO Kitchen, Soul Stone, Café Latte Cino and La Trappe À Fromage.

The event will also feature live music from a number of local artists including Zach Martin, Beats'n Keys and Apollo Envy. For the full musical line-up visit the Cork & Fork Festival website posted at the end of this article.

The festival is following the same concept as the Wine & Food Show with three sessions being held over the two days. The Friday night session runs from 6:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.; the Saturday afternoon session is being held from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and the Saturday night session goes from 6:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. General admission tickets for all three sessions can be purchased on line for $24.63 including fees and taxes.

You can also upgrade your ticket to include a wine tasting with Riedel Glasses during all three sessions, or a beer and food paring. Once inside you will need to purchase tokens which can be redeemed for samples of the wine, beer and spirits. Leftover tokens from the Orléans Caraft Beer Festival will also be accepted.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.orleansfestivals.ca.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)