Local produce, homemade pies and lots of dancing

Hundreds gathered at Soldotna Creek Park on Saturday to browse produce, learn more about growing their own food, and even to dance in celebration of local growing.

At any given moment, across the park, the Harvest Moon Local Food Festival offered much to see and do. Under the demo tent a roster of local growers shared tips for composting, growing and even “worm wrangling.” Nearby, the chef tent featured local professionals creating salads, breads and teas. A kid’s area featured crafts and games, vendors sold local produce in a large farmers market, and live music rang out from the park’s main stage.

Diamond Dance Project put on a show before welcoming people to come up and dance with them to “Soda Pop” from Netflix-sensation “KPop Demon Hunters.”

An array of food trucks and other vendors featured unique specials themed to the festival, like Black Spruce Doughnut Company’s apple pie doughnut made with local apples.

Kaizen Ramen, who featured local salmon, tofu, kale, potatoes, garlic, kimchi, herbs, noodles and more, were awarded “Most Local Food” vendor for the second year in a row.

James Eller runs Kaizen alongside his wife, Saori Habuta, and brother, Gregory Eller. He said the award was an honor and that integrating local food into their cooking is “the obvious choice.”

“We wanted to feel good about the food that we produce and that we’re putting out to the public,” he said. “We wanted to be able to stand behind what we serve.”

Kaizen is working on establishing a permanent location and also a food truck, but will be serving at The Goods Sustainable Grocery on Fridays starting in mid- to late-October.

Awards were also given on Saturday to winners of the annual pie contest, which this year saw 26 entrants across three categories — youth, adult and “homesteader” over 65.

Maya Kaliberda took top marks in the youth category, ahead of Hannah Marcotte and Joey Knowlton in second and third place. Katee Knowlton led the adult category ahead of Melinda Anderson and Linda Ruffridge. Jeannette Pedginski took the homesteader award.

Pedginski, who also is an organizer for the festival, said the event connects a large crowd of local folks with local food every year. She pointed to hundreds of pounds of zucchini moved by one farm alone at this year’s festival as an example of the support the event enjoys.

“I’m just so happy to be part of a community that supports local food,” she said. “Everybody eats food, so let’s make it the best that we can.”

For more information about the Harvest Moon Local Food Festival and local food on the Kenai Peninsula, find “Kenai Local Food Connection” on Facebook.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.