Tickets to Wisconsin Cheese Camp, a two-day festival featuring cheese tours, a Wisconsin Cheddar dinner, a master cheese seminar and Meet the Cheesemaker Gala, go on sale Sept. 6 to members of Wisconsin Cheese Originals. Remaining tickets will go on sale to the public on Oct. 3.
Wisconsin Cheese Camp takes place Nov. 4-5 at The Edgewater in Madison. Tickets will be available first to members of Wisconsin Cheese Originals, an organization dedicated to connecting consumers and Wisconsin artisan cheesemakers. Anyone may join the organization for $35 a year. All membership dues are used to fund beginning cheesemaker scholarships for new Wisconsin artisan cheesemakers.
The camp is hosted by Wisconsin Cheese Originals’ executive director Jeanne Carpenter. She is an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional who specializes in hosting events, festivals and educational classes to better connect cheese enthusiasts with Wisconsin artisan cheese. Attendees to Cheese Camp may expect to meet 30 Wisconsin artisan cheesemakers and taste 150 cheeses, in addition to touring several different Wisconsin cheese factories.
“It’s been several years since I retired the Wisconsin Cheese Originals Festival at the Monona Terrace, and I wanted to bring a new event to Madison,” Carpenter said. “Wisconsin Cheese Camp will be a fun and educational way for folks to meet their favorite cheesemakers, learn more about the cheeses they love, and most of all: eat good cheese!”
Wisconsin Cheese Camp is generously sponsored by Carr Valley Cheese. Cheddars crafted by Master Cheesemaker Sid Cook and a variety of Wisconsin cheesemakers will be featured in the Saturday night Wisconsin Cheddar dinner at The Edgewater. Author Gordon Edgar, cheese buyer for Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco, will be the keynote speaker, and all dinner attendees will receive a complimentary copy of his book: Cheddar: A Journey to the Heart of America’s Most Iconic Cheese.
On Sunday, a master cheese seminar on Biodiversity and Taste of Place will be presented by Bronwen and Francis Percival, authors of the new book: Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese. Bronwen is the cheese buyer for Neal’s Yard Dairy in London, and Francis is a cheese and wine writer and educator in the United Kingdom. They’ll partner with Wisconsin cheesemaker Andy Hatch, of Uplands Cheese, for a 90-minute talk and tasting. All seminar attendees will also receive a complimentary copy of the Percivals’ new book.
Wisconsin Cheese Originals thanks the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for its support of Wisconsin Cheese Camp. Thanks to the organization’s generosity, all attendees to the Sunday Meet the Cheesemaker Gala will receive a complimentary insulated lunch bag with the Wisconsin Cheese logo.
Tickets are available both in VIP packages and individually for three different Saturday bus tours, the Saturday night Wisconsin Cheddar Dinner, Sunday morning master cheese seminar, and Sunday afternoon Meet the Cheesemaker Gala. For ticket prices and a listing of all cheesemakers involved, please visit http://www.wisconsincheeseoriginals.com/wisconsin-cheese-camp/
