The 5th Annual Pimento Cheese Festival is coming up this Saturday, April 13th! It’s a big day for Downtown Cary, and we got the chance to speak with Festival Organizer Ryan O’Quinn about all things Pimento Cheese Festival!
Can you talk a little about yourself and your role in organizing the Pimento Cheese Festival?
I have been working with Cary for 8 years now and started as the Outdoor Arts Events Coordinator. I helped to plan a lot of the outdoor events in Downtown Cary like concerts, food truck rodeos, kids events and more. In 2017 we were looking at ways we could enhance some of our Downtown Chowdown Food Truck Rodeos as more cities started having them, and we thought to theme one of them around a similar ingredient. Similar to an Iron Chef or something like that. It was a way to create some fun fusion items and challenge the chefs a little. After researching different food events, we decided to go with pimento cheese. It was appearing more and more on menus, but there was no other place in the country that had a festival for it. That is how the festival was born and has grown ever since.
This is the 5th year of the Pimento Cheese Festival, how has it changed over the years?
Every year we continue to try and add more trucks and more vendors to our Pimento Cheese Marketplace (where local restaurants and pimento cheese makers set up and sell pimento cheese and give samples). This year we will have over 60 vendors between the trucks, breweries and marketplace vendors. With the opening of Downtown Cary Park, we will also be able to have more space for people to eat and drink, have activities like a free photo booth, trivia at the Bark Bar, Knockerball in the Park Street Courts Arena and much more. This year we will also have additional activities outside of just Saturday. We will have a pimento cheese and wine tasting on Thursday, April 11 in Academy Pavilion, and we will also have a free outdoor movie at the Performance Pavilion on Friday, April 12 (showing Ratatouille) along with a few other fun activities for the whole family. In the past, only the savory food trucks had to have a pimento cheese item, but now even the sweet trucks have pimento cheese items to offer as well.
What can attendees expect in terms of entertainment, activities and vendors at the Pimento Cheese Festival?
We will have Wake Moody from Durham performing throughout the day on the Performance Pavilion stage. We will also have Knockerball, team trivia, a photo booth, giant lawn games and a few more surprises. Professional Cheese Carver Sarah Kaufmann will be returning to make a one of a kind cheese sculpture out of giant 40 lbs. blocks of cheddar. We will also have our famous pimento cheese sculpting contest where citizens can sign up and try to make a one-of-a-kind sculpture and win some fun prizes.
Any foods visitors have to try?
The pimento cheese ice cream is one that I think everyone should try. It has a very unique taste and feel and I think most people should try it at least once. I always like the Korean Corn Dog topped with Pimento Cheese from Golden K Dog, pimento cheese and teriyaki chicken dumplings from Green Onions, pimento cheese pupusas from Mesas El Salvador and any of the brisket/bbq with pimento cheese match-ups.
This year we have a few new vendors that will have shrimp and pimento cheese grits, pimento cheese croquettes, pimento cheese scones and even a lemonade with a pimento cheese and tajin rimmed cup.
What part of the festival are you most excited for?
Every year I am always excited to see the different food creations that the chefs come up with. They can really get creative and create some tasty dishes you wouldn’t have thought about. I also really enjoy seeing people partake in the sculpting contest. Everyone really gets into it and we have had some great sculptures. Lastly, I really enjoy seeing everyone’s reactions. In the south, everyone has a family member that makes a great pimento cheese and you get people discussing how all of these compare. I think that was my biggest take away from the first year, was how passionate everyone was about pimento cheese and their families style. It is a food that normally brings back a lot of good memories.
Finally, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Just that we will have some more activities than just the festival on Saturday. We hope everyone is able to come out on Friday for the movie on the great lawn. We will have activities starting around 6 p.m. and then the movie starts at 8 p.m.
For more info on the Pimento Cheese Festival, visit downtowncarypark.com/pimento-cheese-festival and check out our previous article Here Are The 5 Foods You Have To Try At The 2024 Pimento Cheese Festival.