Destination Stratford Savour and Sip culinary trail is back for a second year after a successful first season.
There are 26 vendors participating in this year’s trail, offering takeaway bites and sips that are perfect for curating a picnic. A trail purchase provides five vouchers that participants can spend at the vendors of their choice.
The trail includes businesses in Stratford as well as St. Mary’s and Shakespeare, with this year’s iteration bringing back many returning favourite vendors, along with six new stops.
New participants include Towne and Country Cheese Shoppe, where participants can redeem a voucher for a bag of cheese curds and Mercer Kitchen, which is offering a can of their Mercer Light beer made in partnership with Great Lakes Brewing.
Other new trail vendors include The Wine Lab, TuttCo and Stone Home Creatives in St. Mary’s as well as Stratford’s Olive Your Favourites.
“We have a lot of returning businesses but they've changed their products so you might not necessarily be getting the same product as you had last year even if it’s the same stop,” says April Murray, Destination Brand Manager for Destination Stratford.
Murray notes that local businesses can sign up to join the Trail anytime, so she hopes to see the list of vendors continue to grow throughout the spring and summer. “We operate this through our website as a digital program, so it's really easy for businesses to hop on even after the trail has launched,” she says.
Murray adds that the trail offers a great variety of sweet and savoury choices, from housemade bread and locally-made preserves to fruit pies and peanut brittle.
“It really promises to deliver an exciting assortment of picnic essentials,” says Murray. “There are so many incredible alfresco dining locations throughout the city, so our hope is that visitors will enjoy their Savour and Sip Trail outdoors.”
Murray says the trail has been an exciting draw for visitors, but locals also enjoy the opportunity to sample food and drink spots around the area they might not have had a chance to try previously.
“We see a strong local following, which is tremendous,” says Murray. “We also encourage locals to bring visitors that they have coming into town or just friends that live within the city to explore with them.”
The seasonal Savour and Sip Trail joins Destination Stratford’s year-round culinary trails: the Chocolate Trail and the Bacon & Ale Trail.
“These trails do incredibly well and I think it's a true testament to visitors wanting a unique experience and our community being able to deliver a high quality unique offering,” says Murray. “It provides visitors and residents with more reasons to explore the destination.”
The Savour and Sip Trail runs from May 1 until October 31. Tickets are $35 plus HST.
