Holland Marsh Soupfest

This was a very memorable experience with a hint of bitterness (no pun intended) from the few vendors/​persons who knowingly served burnt soup. I should deduct a star for it but I am not going to because I think the sum of all the parts far outweigh this small but very unappetizing flaw.
Every year this sweet, little town of Ansnorveldt holds this all day soup event. With the picturesque fall colours and gentle rolling hills in the backdrop alongside the cool breezes of autumn; there is simply no better set and time to have such an event. For a flat admission cost of $ 15/​person, you have the opportunity to sample 7 different soups from vendors ranging from culinary institutes, restaurants to your average home cook. There was easily more than 2 dozen vendors serving a variety of soups; anything from rustic garden vegetables to exotics like coffee and bacon (one of my favourites!). I love the great variety of vendors because you can really taste the different styles of soups that reflect their own culture and background. You have the big establishments serving sophisticated, refined soups alongside home cooks with their homey, earth, rustic styles.
Big kudos to the event organizers. Police are hired to direct traffic, plenty of parking and seating and excellent ticketing/​entry system. The soups are served inside a giant tent so the event does run rain or shine.
All in all, the soups just taste fantastic. The atmosphere is lovely and the experience is certainly memorable. I will be back more many more years I am sure.
Tip: This is a cash only event and arrive early because they will run out of soup well before the end of the day.

I’m not sure if it was due to the better weather this year, but Holland Marsh Soupfest 2015 was much better organised this year! Especially as a judge, I’m glad that they decided to divvy up the list so that we weren’t judging EVERYONE and only did certain categories.
New this year was also vendors set up on the lawn which did not exist last year. There was even a produce stand in which I scored a basket full of beets for a whopping $ 2.50! Great deal if you ask me. :)
This year, I found that the organisers used the venue in a better way. There was even a police officer directing traffic and a free shuttle from neighbouring streets that brought participants who parked further closer to the park where the Soupfest was taking place.
Even though it was a bit chilly, I found that the sun really helped bring out more people and helped spread the crowd to the picnic tables outside the tent. Very happy that I decided to come out this year, thanks to fellow Unilocaler, Adrienne for the +1!

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a judge at this year’s Soupfest. This was the first time I’d been and what a fun day it was.
We arrived early (10:45 a.m.) and were glad we did. The soup started flowing at 11:00 a.m. and the place got busy very quickly.
There were four categories to be judged (each judge only did one category), Elected officials, home cooks, culinary schools, restaurants/​caterers.
We didn’t taste all of the soups as there were 32 vendors and that would just have been too much for anyone, but we did have a great sampling. Some of the stand-​outs were oxtail soup, mulligatawny soup, historically accurate soup (made from a wartime recipe) and of all things, a celery soup made by mayor Rob Keffer (Bradford west Gwillimbury).
For a $ 15 ticket, you get 7 samples (4oz each) of soup, a soup mug with a spoon and a reusable canvas bag. I can’t imagine anyone needing more than 7 samples as most of the soups were pretty filling.
We didn’t stay until the closing time of 4:00 p.m., but we did notice that the bread provided on a table in the middle of the tent was gone by around noon or so. No one (as far as we could tell) had run out of soup by the time we left at 1:30 p.m., but some vendors did say they didn’t have a lot left. I’d advise getting there about 15 minutes before they open as the lines to get in got REALLY long right after 11:00 a.m. Also, the nice thing about getting there early is that you can stroll around and read what soups will be available before the tent gets too busy, so that you know where to head first.
Also the soup tent was the Unilocal booth. Patrons could vote for their favourite soup at the booth and also were given a freebie, such as fingerless gloves and foam beer sleeves.
Outside of the soup tent there were several vendors including a farmers’ market stand, sprouting stand, a Costco stand and a few people selling clothing and trinkets.
All in all, this was a really positive experience for us and we’d definitely return.

Wow, I don’t even know where to start. I was invited by Unilocal to be a judge for this festival. I was pleasantly surprised to hear about a soup fest close to where I live. I was also quite excited to taste soups created with local meat and produce from over 30 vendors!
I arrived around 12:30 at the soup festival and it was crazy crowded. There were long lineups for a lot of the vendors. It was kind of disappointing that around 1 pm quite a few soup makers started to run out. The festival turned out to be a lot more popular than I had expected.
It was an amazing experience nonetheless. I had some spectacularly creative and equally delicious soups and got to meet many great cooks. The tickets for this event are very reasonably priced as well and you will definitely get your money’s worth. I was full after tasting 7 – 8 vendors and they also had free bread to go with the soups. The sampling cups were the size of the small espresso cups.
The only issue was the crowded tent where they had set up all the soup stalls. Although the tent was a good cover from the rain, it was very cozy in there. I would have liked them to be a bit more spread out so that all the attendees would have some more space to stand and enjoy their samples. I guess they didn’t expect so many people.
As an added bonus they also had a live band playing some great tunes. They also gave everybody swag bags which had Soupfest mugs. Although they did run out of those by 1:30 pm.
Tip: Arrive early, I would say when they are about to open their doors. Get the bread rolls before they run out.

This festival provided me with such a fun experience! I was a soup judge!
There were 3 categories for the competition:
Home/​Farm
Culinary institution/​school
Restaurant/​Caterer
I really enjoyed the fact that the soup makers were all situated under a large tent. It was raining on and off throughout the day so we were well covered.
There was plenty of bread at the beginning to eat with the soups. However, they ran out too early. Unfortunately, by the time it was 2pm, many of the soups had run out too.
The event was supposed to last until 4pm. Festival goers still had tickets but didn’t have the variety to choose from. Good thing some vendors did make a lot of extra soup.
From what I understand, this Soupfest was a lot more popular this year and they really weren’t expecting so many attendees.
I sure hope they make more soup next year!!!
Bring back the live music too! They were great!