Ithaca just hosted its first ever Brunch Fest! While it was on the smaller side compared to some other food festivals in Ithaca, everyone loves brunch and it was certainly successful for its first year.
Vendors including OmNomOmlettes, Gateway Kitchen, Kilpatrick’s Publick House and Bandwagon Pub offered $2 & $5 samples of their brunch options.
One of the most popular booths during the festival was Wagner Valley Brewing Co. & Vineyards’ brunch bar. Of course they had the classic brunch mimosa, but they also had some creative options including a coffee porter and a mango beer float.
There was a Bloody Mary Mix-Off contest and festival goers were able to get tickets to sample Bloody Marys from Coltivare as well as Taste of Thai, Gateway Kitchen and Sunset Grill. They voted Coltivare as having the best mix and presentation. Several vendors took part to put their own spin on brunch. Waffle Frolic had samples of their famous waffles and also served coffee.
Gimme Coffee also produced a special blend that they appropriately deemed Downtown Ithaca. It is still available in their stores but only for a limited time!
Like most Ithaca festivals, there were t-shirts for purchase, but Muckles’ Ink made it special by allowing people to customize their t-shirts if they wanted, and each shirt was printed in front of you.
Unfortunately, because there more people than vendors anticipated, lines were extremely long throughout the day and a few of the restaurants ran out of food.
Though the lines were long, we absolutely can’t wait for next year’s Brunch Fest. Luckily, Ithaca’s famous Chili Fest is coming up in December to keep us from experiencing too much festival FOMO. Participants were encouraged to make their way to the vendors’ main space, which many took advantage of: