Milford Potato Festival

Spud lovers satisfy their potato cravings

Three-year-old Fiona Peloso uses plenty of glitter glue to decorate her potato creation.

A winter storm proved no hindrance to dozens of spud lovers seeking to play potato games and sate their appetite for the tasty tater at the inaugural Milford Potato Festival on Saturday. A craft table held the interests of kids as they decorated potatoes using bits and baubles held on with copious quantities of glitter glue. At lunchtime, a deluxe potato bar provided a range of delicious toppings for the steaming baked tubers, which were accompanied by hearty potato soup, cheesy potato stackers, freshly made French fries and the village’s justly famous potato donuts. The festival was organized by the South Marysburgh Recreation Board as an indoor alternative to the Milford Winter Carnival, which had been adversely affected by the whims of winter weather for the past several years. However, the popular Friday night bingo game was retained, and despite the poor weather almost 50 people showed up to play using bingo boards originally from the military camp at Loch Sloy. Game winners were given a $10 gift card from local businesses, and had the choice of receiving a potato or a bag of potato chips, the latter being the preferred option for the younger players.

Janna McCarthy is one of the members of the recreation board, and says that the other members all agreed to replace the Winter Carnival with the new festival. “We’ve always done the Winter Carnival, but the weather has just been horrible for the past five years,” she says. “The first year we did it, it was beautiful. The ice was great on the pond, but since then it has not been good.” The choice of a potato festival seems and unusual one, but the board appears to share a wry sense of humour. “We wanted to get those couch potatoes off the sofa,” says McCarthy with a laugh. “January has just been so bleak, and we needed to put a little fun into things, so we thought a potato festival would be fun. There’s so much you can do with potatoes.”

Buoyed by the turnout of Friday night, the organizers expected a good crowd on Saturday. However, the overnight snow put a damper on things and it was a slow start with just a handful of people showing up for the potato games and crafts. The kitchen meanwhile was busy preparing a raft of baked potatoes and bubbling pots of potato soup. Perhaps it was the Milford juju or maybe the delicious odours wafting through the kitchen door, but at about 11:30 a.m. dozens of people showed up for the potato-themed lunch.

Soon enough all the tables were filled with adults and kids, and yet more people kept coming in. The tall mound of delicious potato donuts was reduced at an alarming rate.

This boosted the confidence of McCarthy and the other board members that their new venture was a community success, especially as they had spent months organizing the event. Part of the board’s mandate is to provide such community events at little or no charge, as it is funded in part by a per capita grant from Shire Hall. The board organizes a number of events through the year, including the annual New Year’s Levee, the Easter Parade and the Milford Fair. Members also beautify the bridge with flower boxes and they provide a swimming dock on the pond during the summer. There are currently six members on the board, and they are looking for volunteers to join them. For more information, please email McCarthy at jcmleewis@ kos.net.