Leitrim County Council successfully secured funding through the Rural Economic Development Zones (REDZ) Programme 2016 for a Taste Leitrim Food Tourism and Enterprise Zone project, to act as a stimulus of food tourism and food enterprise progression in the county. To coincide with the annual Organic Centre Apple and Harvest Day, a new event was organised called Taste Leitrim Harvest Feast (revitalising a food event brand held for a number of years in Drumshanbo). The unique selling point of this event was the organic and natural gardens as a venue.

The Organic Centre hosted a number of apple events including, an orchard tour, juicing, pruning, grafting and a seed demonstration. Running alongside this the Taste Leitrim Harvest Feast hosted events for all the family including, booking readings, face painting, seed gathering and planting, cider production, gin making demonstration and a wonderful cookery demonstration. The large turnout of children for the festival was heartening with the availability of activities to help them learn about food production in a fun way. Our local food producers came out in great numbers, where they displayed and sold their produce. Louise Kennedy, Event Manager with Taste Leitrim Harvest Feast acknowledged that the Organic Centre is a unique and valuable facility for the running of future food events in the north of the county, whilst maintaining the ethos of the centre.

Joe Lowe, Head of Enterprise commented that Leitrim County Council and the Local Enterprise Office are delighted to be in a position to support the Harvest Feast Event through the REDZ Programme 2016 and hope to continue to support the event into 2018.

The Taste Leitrim Harvest Feast will be on the move and plans are now underway for an event in Drumshanbo before the end of the year. This event will focus on promotion of local food producers, cafes and restaurants. It is envisaged that the food festivals will become annual events based in different areas of the county. For further details on all upcoming events check out facebook.com/tasteleitrim.