The Community
The Community
Our mission at The Dessert Festival aims to create an annual festival that showcases independent local bakeries renowned for their baked goods and creative desserts. At the Dessert Festival, our goal is to encourage a healthy way of enjoying desserts while also celebrating the joy of indulgence. We think that the sweet experience can be redefined with the help of healthy foods and homemade crafts. Our festival showcases a wide variety of delectable delights that put flavor and nutrition first, with the goal of inspiring and educating attendees. We work together with local chefs and artisans to create a community where inventive cuisine and thoughtful enjoyment coexist.
The local bakeries that will be participating will be Craig’s Bakery & Deli and the Cutting Board Bistro, they have teamed up with Tourism Kamloops and Nature’s Fare to bring this festival to Kamloops. Craigs Bakery specializes in making everything from scratch, while Cutting Board Bistro’s specialty is making their items all 100% gluten free. Both businesses will showcase their treats will promoting wellness through their dedication to using fresh, high-quality ingredients.
A Brief Background on Craig’s Bakery & Cutting Board Bistro
Craigs Bakery is family owned by Craig Einfield. The bakery originally started in Chase and now has a location in Kamloops on the North Shore. Craigs father, grandfather and several uncles were all bakers. Craigs is know for their quality of freshness as orders are made at night with the hep of his two sons. They are known for making everything from scratch and adding no preservatives to their products. They offer breakfast & lunch specials daily that change from week to week and have fresh breads, bagels, donuts, custom cakes, butter tarts & Danish pastries.
Cutting Board Bistro & Bakery recently opened in Kamloops on Sept 8, 2022. It is owned by a couple; the husband is Marcus Kharboutli who has been a chef for quite sometime and the wife is Ashley Marey who has 17years experience in the hotel industry. Ashley is celiac so Marcus would master gluten free baking & cooking for his wife, that’s when they came across the north shore location and came up with the idea to start their own bistro & bakery. Everything here is 100% gluten free which is great for anyone that can’t have gluten but still enjoy desserts. They offer cheesecakes, cinnamon buns, Blueberry Mouse Dome, cupcakes, much more and serve breakfast and lunch with new specials weekly.
photo of custom cake, taken by: Craigs Bakery
The Opportunity
The main objective is not to promote the businesses but to push health & wellness even though they are desserts. A lot of the food we consume from these big brand grocery stores carry a lot of products that have been processed or have extra chemicals to preserve shelf life. We want to showcase how the local products from Craig’s Bakery & Cutting Board Bistro can make a huge impact on our health just from the fact that their made fresh. We feel as this is a great opportunity for locals and tourists, as we get to promote the desserts in healthier forms. Promoting sustainability and healthier alternatives. Natures fare will be holding a wellness talk regarding digestion and how we can overall take care of our health while craving our sweet tooth. This will promote how local small business are making a difference by offering us these freshly baked goods with fresher ingredients. It also gives tourists and local on insights of the products nature fare keeps since it is a specialty store.
photo taken by Cutting Board of their Choux Cardinale
The Experience
Venue: McDonald Park 262 King Street Kamloops B.C
When: Saturday July 13, 2024
Price of Ticket: $50 (Available at all Natures Fare’s, Craig’s Bakery & Cutting Board Café)
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM: Registration and Welcome
Attendees begin arriving at the festival grounds. Registration desks are set up to check in guests and provide them with any necessary materials or information. Festival organizers greet attendees and express gratitude to the city for their support in hosting the event.
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM: Opening Ceremony
The festival officially kicks off with an opening ceremony. Organizers deliver welcoming remarks, acknowledging sponsors, vendors, and attendees. A brief presentation highlights the goals and themes of the festival, emphasizing the celebration of delicious, healthy desserts made from scratch.
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Treat Booths (Cake, cupcakes, Tarts, Danishes, Muffin, Bagels, Breads)
Attendees are free to explore the various treat booths set up throughout the festival grounds. Local bakeries, including Craig’s Bakery and Cutting Board Bistro, showcase their mouthwatering creations, offering samples and full-sized desserts. Tourists can indulge in an array of sweets, from cakes and pastries to cookies and tarts, all made from scratch with fresh, quality ingredients. Two booths will be setup by Nature Fare and our guest speaker promoting wellness and one dedicated to alternatives for those who are celiac promoting the different options you have when baking.
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Guest Speaker Session – Nature Fares (Informative Workshop)
A special guest Cheryl Grant (president and CEO of Vitality, a bestselling line of Canadian Vitamins) speaker representing Nature Fares takes the stage to discuss the importance of incorporating healthy ingredients into our diets for overall well-being. The speaker shares tips and insights on making nutritious choices while still enjoying the pleasures of dessert. Attendees have the chance to learn about the benefits of using fresh, natural ingredients and discover ways to improve their health through mindful eating habits. We will conclude this at 2:45 leaving 15minutes for a Q$A session answering any questions anyone might have.
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Final Treat Tastings and Farewell
As the festival draws to a close, attendees have one last opportunity to sample their favorite treats and purchase any desserts they’d like to take home.
We are aiming to create alternatives for tourists and locals to indulge in the foods they like in a healthier prospective. We hope after the dessert festival the attendees find that our products were worth the trip. We want to be able to show more sustainable ways to eat the foods we love minus all the extra ingredients that big corporations are putting in their food. We hope all attendees can taste the difference and indulge in new creative ways to make their desserts, while promoting the businesses is a bonus what we want to take away from this is that these local businesses are supportive of health and wellness in the community.
phot taken by Craig’s Bakery of carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
The Benefit
- Support for Small Businesses: Local bakeries, cafes, and dessert artisans benefit from increased exposure and sales during the festival, helping to sustain and grow their businesses and raise awareness of what makes their products different.
- Community Engagement: The festival brings residents together, fostering a sense of belonging and pride in their city. Show the city of Kamloops what small businesses in their community are doing and why.
- Locals and tourist can gain knowledge of better ways of baking desserts. For those that are celiac they can gain beneficial knowledge towards baking their own goods
- Opportunity For Growth: Soon if this event is a success we can grow to a bigger venue with more participant once the festival is more successful.
- Cultural Immersion: The festival offers tourists a chance to connect with the local community, learn about Kamloops’ heritage, and engage in authentic local experiences.
- Benefit lives, when people are faced with restrictions on what they can eat it can be challenging, if we can even change one life and put joy on someone’s face from our recipes this event will be a success. Promoting wellness and alternatives is what we hope to achieve.