Brighten your weekend by heading to Cannon Falls on Saturday, February 22, to catch Ferndale Market’s Local Artisan Cheese Day. Between 11 and 2 check out Ferndale’s broad selection of local cheeses. Want a bite of a flavored gouda or chevre? Maybe a cave-aged blue? Taste and learn about several handmade cheese from Eichten’s Hidden Acres, (Center City, MN), Holland’s Family Cheese (Thorp, WI), Faribault Dairy Company’s St. Pete’s Blue, Chippewa Valley Cheese, (Melrose, WI), and Mont Chevre (Belmont, WI). The five-year-old Ferndale Market features plenty of ideal cheese go-withs for locavores: meats, crackers and spreads, chocolates, to name a few. Plus Ferndale, located on a family-owned third generation farm, has the products of over 70 local food producers!
Samples of Sturdiwheat products, made in nearby county seat Red Wing, will be offered, too, plus music by the folksy Free Rangers duo, led by Rae Rusnak. Rusnak provides the eggs from her nearby farm, L & R Poultry and Produce; they just about fly off the shelves at Ferndale.
When you’re done at Ferndale, head into the charming one-stoplight downtown to taste some award-winning local wine at Cannon River Winery (421 Mill St W) where Andrew Walesch will entertain with free music 1 to 4 on the 22nd, including tunes made popular by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and original songs, too. Following Walesch will be saxophonist Jason Weisman with a variety of funk, soul, and contemporary music.
Just to the east on Mill St across Fourth Street, Nick’s Downtown Diner (331 Mill St W) is a good spot for a bite to eat, to complete a day of local food and drink in scenic Cannon Falls.
