Ready to Rumble

PALMER —Friday and Saturday saw the annual Palmer Midsummer Garden and Art Faire with the Wine Walk and Rhubarb Rumble. The fair was designed to promote Palmer’s natural resources, local farms and vendors, and has also served as venue for artists to perform music and offer art instruction of varying mediums.

There were workshops and tours for gardening tips and tricks. There were also several workshops to that learn various forms of art. The event is hosted by the Palmer Museum that works hand-in-hand with community businesses. Several volunteers were onsite, lending support to keep things moving along. Spanning a decade, the fair has grown in scale and attendance over time.

This is the 5th year for the Rhubarb Rumble and according to Selena Ortega-Chiolero, Executive Director of the Palmer Museum. The overall feedback from both participating businesses and the general public has been well received.

“They love that it’s not only trying to showcase them, but also to showcase the use of local products,” Ortega-Chiolero said.

The Rumble is usually the same day as the Art Faire but this year the museum decided to move it to Friday since there was a lot of musical performances Saturday and Ortega-Chiolero thought it would “showcase the restaurants better.”

The goal of the Rumble is to have professional chefs from local restaurants show off “only their best rhubarb recipe” for the public to then sample and vote for their favorite. The dishes must be centered on the use of rhubarb. The other main focus for the event is to promote locally grown produce. One of the rules is that recipes must be made up of at least 50 percent locally produced ingredients.

Chefs are required to submit 150 samples. There are three categories for the contest — sweet, savory, and beverage. There is a winner for each category that gets a certificate but only one real winner. There is no cash award but the winner is instead awarded with “bragging rights.” The winner receives a certificate and boasts a trophy at their establishment for a year. After the year is up, they trade it in for a plaque to hang up. According to Ortega-Chiolero, there are people who don’t know about some of the participating restaurants and the exposure tends to lead to them frequenting their establishments.

Ortega-Chiolero said that rhubarb has a diverse range of recipe options that many people are not aware of; and people stick to what they know — pies and crumbles — but they should not daunted by trying something savory or even a drink.

“Don’t fear the rhubarb,” she said.

Three businesses participated this year: Turkey Red, with its Pulled Pork and Rhubarb Barbeque Sauce, Bistro Red Beet with Old-fashioned Rhubarb Shortbread and Smoky Rhubarb Soup, and Arkose Brewery with its Rhubarb Beer.

The three items to vote on were the pork, soup and shortbread. The beer was used for the Wine Walk instead. The voting scale went as follows:

1) Eh

2) Pretty Tasty

3) This could be a repeat experience

4) Mmmmmmmhhh

5) Wow! Could I pretend to be new so I can have another sample?

6) I think I hear angels. I want the recipe for this.

The Rhubarb is usually acquired from Kenley's Alaskan Vegetables. This year, the Rhubarb was provide by Bistro Red Beet, whose owner, Sally Koppenberg, has been a part of the Garden and Art Faire since its beginning. Her goals are three-fold. She said her primary goal is to “showcase local food.”

“We try to make all of our ingredients local,” Koppenberg said. “Our goal is 85 percent local (for the restaurant).”

Her second goal is to offer something unique and to “surprise people slightly.”

“You don’t have to make rhubarb into a pie. There are many uses. It’s a phenomal savory food and can be used in many, many ways,” she said.

Her third goal is to inspire the public to get local ingredient and try to make some of these recipes themselves. She said that she strives to present dishes that are not too complicated with the hopes to that people will be encouraged to give it a try. Like most people there, she pushes for people to buy local more and retail less.

Mable Wimmer, a volunteer for the Rumble said that 90 percent of Alaska’s food is imported. She believes that it will eventually get more expensive for restaurants that ship in food.

“There’s so many things we can do for ourselves here,” she said. “We need to start looking towards ourselves, especially in this economy.”

Kelly Strawn, Project Manager for Palmer Soil & Water Conservation District ran a table at the Rumble, offering samples of fresh vegetables and dips, including a rhubarb-rutabaga hummus that was made by Koppenberg. Her time working at the Rumble works in conjunction with the Palmer Local Food Project, a program sponsored by the district that offers instruction led by Koppenberg. The program offers classes to learn how to prepare locally grown meals and also has a mission to help restaurants use more local ingredients.

“It’s about supporting the local economy, having the opportunity to eat fresher, healthier foods,” Strawn said. “You’re doing yourself a favor by buying this produce. The nutrient content is much higher than what you what you’re gonna find in local stores; because by the time it’s picked, processed and shipped up to Alaska, I mean, it’s basically on its last leg.”

The Palmer Midsummer Garden and Art Faire continues to draw more people into an annual oasis of green thumbs and artistic expression. The Rhubarb Rumble seems like an example of the two worlds colliding, with artistically crafted meals served with mostly Alaska grown ingredients. There was no admission, so the public was free to stroll in and sample the dishes and determine a winner.

“People that come to Rhubarb Rumble love it. They love seeing the variety. “Plus, there’s nothing better than free food,” Ortega-Chiolero said.

The winner has yet to be determined and will be posted soon.

To learn more about the Palmer Local Food Project, call either Kelly Strawn at 907-357-1440 or Sally Koppenberg at 907-376-1400.