Those who make, love cheese gather in record numbers at annual Pittsfield festival

Lisa Nile of Farmington, left, and Sherrie and Kayden Hansen of Rumford choose from a variety of cheeses Sunday while shopping the Pineland Farms Dairy Co. booth during the Maine Cheese Festival at Manson Park in Pittsfield. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

PITTSFIELD — The hotly anticipated Maine Cheese Festival returned to Pittsfield on Sunday.

Despite some gloomy weather, more than 1,000 people headed to Manson Park to sample and buy Maine-made dairy products.

“The turnout has been phenomenal,” Ron Dyer, executive director of the Maine Cheese Guild, said Sunday. “We had a 10% to 15% increase in attendance from last year — 1,500 tickets for a cheese event.”

A cooler, cloudy day likely contributed to that increase in attendance, Dyer said. The cheese does not melt in the heat, although volunteers — called “cheese fairies” — were handing out free refrigerated bags to festivalgoers for their purchases, and attendees tended to stay out longer.

John Hwalek of Bangor holds his granddaughter, Acadia Washburn, while sitting with his daughter and the baby’s mother, Heather Hwalek of Seattle, during the Maine Cheese Festival at Manson Park in Pittsfield. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

This year’s turnout might have been the biggest ever for the cheese festival, Dyer said. It is the one fundraiser the Maine Cheese Guild organizes each year, and all proceeds help the nonprofit organization run its safety training and educational programming throughout the year.

The guild has about 140 members and hosts regular classes to help aspiring or established cheesemakers network and run their businesses.

There are about 80 artisan cheesemakers in Maine, Dyer said, and 22 of them were vendors at Sunday’s festival. Another 40 vendors — a record — were selling related goods, including wine, cider, soap, milk and bread. The event also included several food trucks from across Maine, a beer garden and live music.

“Today is a wonderful day to connect with people who love cheese and other cheesemakers,” said vendor Faith Jones, who operates Dreamin’ Fahm in Wilton with her husband, Robert. “We get to celebrate us.”

The couple said they come to the cheese festival every year, and also frequent area farmers’ markets. On Sunday, they were selling dairy products, including smoked gouda, chèvre and farm-made fudge. Their unusual flavors of cheese, such as taco and pizza curds, have won customers over, according to Faith Jones.

“We kind of think outside the box,” she said.

A volunteer, known as a “cheese fairy,” assists attendees Sunday during the Maine Cheese Festival at Manson Park in Pittsfield. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

The couple began their business in 2014, after Faith Jones visited a friend who owned some Nigerian dwarf goats. Inspired, she went home and convinced her husband to buy a few goats of their own. Today, they own a herd of some 30 Alpine and Saanen goats.

“We kind of just dove into it. We just love it,” she said. “We learn something every day.”

Lauren Crosby and Aaron Nadeau play guitars and sing Sunday during the Maine Cheese Festival at Manson Park in Pittsfield. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Like Faith and Robert Jones, vendors Jim and Jody Niemi said they did not start out thinking they would operate a dairy goat business.

Three years ago, the Niemis bought chickens, goats and bees to be self-sufficient by making their own food, Jim Niemi said Sunday. Encouraged by friends and family members, the couple decided to experiment with selling their goat milk products, which include cheeses, soap, fudge and caramels.

“We set up a table at the end of our driveway,” Jim Niemi said Sunday, “and in the first day, we sold out,”

Annual events like the cheese festival are rewarding for participants, Jim Niemi said, adding he feels grateful to have been able to build their business, ChiGoBee Farm in Pownal, within a couple of years.

Jim Niemi credits ChiGoBee’s success to the support Mainers are willing to show small businesses by investing in local, farm-made produce. The cheese guild, too, has helped spread the word out about their farm, he said, and has allowed them to connect with other cheesemakers.

“This is a state that really encourages local agriculture, and there’s some really creative people in Maine doing fun stuff with cheese,” Dyer said. “We encourage people to find their cheesemaker and stick with them.”