Dinner to Feature Madison County Foods

A group of Madison County residents is organizing an event to celebrate “the delicious bounty of locally produced food.”

The dinner – set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12 at the Madison Inn restaurant at 217 N. Main St. in downtown Madison – will feature Madison County-produced meats and vegetables.

Local farmers will be present at each of the dining tables to teach dinner guests about local farming practices and issues, according to event representatives.

“It’s an effort to link consumers with local farmers to create a supportive, commercial relationship between the two,” said Brightwood resident Kim Johnson Smith, who is a representative for one of the event’s sponsors, the Blue Ridge Foothills Conservancy. The Virginia Cooperative Extension Service and the Madison County Farmers Market Association are also sponsoring the event.

The purpose of the gourmet dinner is also to raise awareness of the many foods available locally and to emphasize the importance of food production to the local economy.

The dinner event will also feature an introduction of a series of “Home Grown Blue Ridge” recipe cards featuring recipes submitted by local farm families. The Blue Ridge Foothills Conservancy is producing the cards as part of its “The Land that Feeds Us” project.

Smith recently spent some time at Kristin Farry’s Wolftown farm and sampled some ground lamb meat burgers during her visit.

“I grew up on lamb chops but never thought of [grinding] lamb,” she said. “This gives farmers an opportunity to give creative suggestions of how to use their food in interesting ways.”

The dinner – whose menu is still being developed and will be based on the availability of local produce next month – will benefit the newly organized Madison County Farmers Market Association. Tickets are $50 each and are available at the Madison County Cooperative Extension Service office in downtown Madison’s War Memorial Building or at a table at the Madison County Farmers Market, which is 8 a.m.-noon every Saturday at Hoover Ridge park.