A new kind of festival is coming to the Festival City this spring.
On April 13, event venue Grayson Mills will host Corks & Curds, which celebrates some of the area's best food and drink producers.
“Stratford doesn’t have a wine and cheese festival, so we wanted to do the same kind of thing but put our own twist on it,” said Wendy Bennewies, owner of Grayson Mills.
Bennewies took over ownership of the historic Erie Street building in 2020 and reopened the space as an event venue in summer 2023. The two-floor facility, which dates back to the late 19th century, was originally owned by Stratford lawyer J Grayson Smith.
It has served as a business selling everything from bicycles to cars over its 150 years. The handsome event venue maintains many of the building’s rustic details, including wood-beamed ceilings and exposed brick walls.
Grayson Mills can be booked for private events like birthday parties and weddings, with Bennewies and her team also regularly hosting their own ticketed events for the public, including the upcoming Corks & Curds festival.
Corks & Curds will bring together regional wineries, breweries, distilleries, cheesemakers and other food and drink vendors for a lively tasting event.
Confirmed participants include Stratford’s Junction 56 distillery, which will showcase its small-batch spirits, as well as NE1 Spirits, a family-owned distillery located in Mount Brydges. St. Mary’s Towne and Country Cheese Shoppe will bring a selection of their more than 100 domestic and imported gourmet cheeses, while Grand Bend’s Torched Brewery will supply beers that highlight their commitment to sustainability and use of local ingredients.
Hessenland Inn & Schatz Winery will offer sips from their five-acre micro vineyard in Zurich. The full list of vendors is still to be confirmed. “It’s all of the favorites in and around Stratford,” said Bennewies.
A $30 admission ticket for the event includes two tokens for attendees to spend at the vendors of their choice as well as a commemorative glass to take home. Additional tokens, which can be purchased for $4 each, can be redeemed for samples of 2 oz wine, 4 oz beer or 1 oz spirits. Vendors will be spread across Grayson Mills’ two-floor venue. London-based musician Chris Eh Young will set an upbeat tone for sipping and savouring with a live acoustic performance.
Bennewies says she plans for Corks & Curds to become an annual event. “We're trying to show off what the area has because a lot of people don't really know all of the options,” she said.
