Mark off another weekend to head down to the Barrie waterfront this summer.
The Medley Food and Drink Festival will run from July 20 to 22 and will be a more than just another festival on the Barrie calendar. The event was the idea of local businessman Phillip Moore, owner of Carpe Diem Asset and Property Management, as he and a friend were driving across Barrie’s Lakeshore Boulevard after coming back from a food and drink event. Moore knows that Barrie has a lot weekends throughout the summer that are full of things to do, but feels this event will offer something different for all who attend.
“I was coming back from a food and drink festival during the summer of 2016 and I was driving along Lakeshore Blvd in Barrie when my friend who had attended the event with me said why Barrie doesn’t have a high end food and drink festival on the waterfront; and the idea was born,” said Moore. “There are several differences about this event versus other events in this region and I think it starts with the people. We have a great team and I’ve brought in Jeff Atley from Atley and Athem in Toronto who is a specialist in business start ups and marketing. He’s been a tremendous help and key member of the team. With Jeff’s background in marketing he’s helped transform Medley from an event that was essentially going to be about 100 food and drink vendors housed under tents selling samples on the South Shore Centre Park Grounds.”
The event’s website describes Medley as being “passionate about creating experiences full of culinary delight, entertainment, flavour, clever surprises, and a celebration of life, community and Canadiana.” The focus here is one of higher-end culinary delights with events happening such as Caesar and Sangria Sunday, wine tasting sessions, Rum and Rocks and a flare bartending competition. As far as food there are Best Burger Competitions, Best in Food and on the Sunday there is a Food Truck Corral. Moore is excited about the food aspect and says it will all lead to awards being handed out as well.
“Our Battle of the Burger is set to have five or so Burger Bistro’s fire up the BBQs on the Main Stage at 5 p.m. on Saturday to cook off and create Simcoe County’s best burger,” said Moore. “Three professional chefs and two festival-goers will make up a judges panel of five people who will taste each of the chef’s creations. The winner will receive a WWE style wrestling belt and be named the best burger. It’s going to be really fun to watch and should get the crowd involved. We are hosting competitions every evening at 5pm on the main stage including Barrie’s Best New Chef and Barrie’s Best Caesar, all of which will be judged and will encourage crowd participation.”
As far as activities go, Medley is getting ready to be very entertaining. Moore says that the team is actively working on an on-land boat show, car show, axe-throwing area, rock-climbing wall, on land fish tank, a water ski show, buskers, magicians, dozens of competitions and giveaways. Food and drink celebrities will also be on-hand with a very popular TV personality making the trek up the 400 for Medley.
“We have David Adjey from the Food Network’s Restaurant Makeover emceeing the festival,” said Moore. “He’s got great energy and he told me he is a big fan of Barrie so he was quite excited that we asked him to participate. We tentatively have Fish Heads booked for Friday 7 to 10 p.m., Candice Sand Saturday 1 to 4 p.m., Dirty Little Swing Thing 7 to 10 p.m., and Northern Harbour, a Jimmy Buffet cover Band, playing Sunday 2 to 6 p.m. I think the line up will compliment the festival and will draw a great crowd. I’m a personal fan of all the musicians and John Derlis from Impact Live was clutch in helping secure all of the acts.”
There will also be a kid’s zone so families can enjoy the food together while the kids can have some fun time in the warm weather.
With four months to go until kick-off, Moore says that he is looking forward to the finished product but is excited nonetheless. After a year and a half of planning, Moore and his team can see the finish line and hope everyone is ready to have a great time.
“I’m exhausted but the show will go on and throughout the year and a half of planning thus far, the event has evolved,” said Moore. “The Medley team has made this all worth it though. We have Breya Hook as our event planner/coordinator, Jeff Atley as VP of marketing, John Derlis from Impact Live, Caiti McLelland and Graham Bauckham from Varsity Tents, Dwayne Bylow from Locked Down Security and me in charge of sales and trying to manage it all. It’s not a huge team; we all have full time jobs elsewhere so it means a lot of long hours, perseverance and hard work. The idea is to attract folks from all across Ontario not just the immediate vicinity. And we want this to be about the Community. Barrie is a wonderful City but I find so many people only know of it from their drive through Barrie on their way north. We need to give people more of a reason to get off the highway and really see what Barrie has to offer.”
Medley runs Friday, July 22, Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24. The organizers are still looking for more sponsors and vendors and can be contacted through the website.
The event can also be found on Facebook and Instagram at @MedleyFest
