Food, wine, cider, fresh produce, arts and crafts, and rocking entertainment - the 28th year of A Taste of the Huon brought big things to the Ranelagh Recreation Grounds last Sunday and Monday.  
Each year, the Taste attracts large crowds with organisers hoping that crowd number would top 20,000 this year, the cool weather kept numbers lower than hoped, but there was still a large crowd from all over Tasmania and interstate in the Huon Valley to enjoy some of the best local produce that the Huon and Channel regions have to offer, and, with almost 100 stalls ranging from micro-breweries, to jewellery, from sushi to face painting, there was literally something for everyone.
“A Taste of the Huon was attended by thousands of people, all enjoying the wonderful food, beverages and art from the Huon and Channel region,” said A Taste of the Huon festival committee chair Rosemary Bennett.
“The gate takings were down, and the committee have put that down to many factors that have been occurring over the past few weeks and of course the weather was not at its very best.
“I’m very positive that next year our patrons will return and the committee are now excited about organising next year’s event.”
“To everyone that attended please accept our thanks for the patronage and encourage your neighbours and friends to come next year as we need your continued support.
“To the many volunteers, thank you so very much, we can’t do it without you and we look forward to working with you next year. 
“To my committee and everyone else that assisted, I was very overwhelmed at times with the support from sometimes even strangers offering their time, encouragement and support.”
Festival judges, Huon Valley Mayor Bec Enders, Huon Aquaculture’s Pene Snashall and Huon Valley Community Brank Branches’ Tony Coulson and Colleen Shield, were hard pressed to choose a winner for this year’s best food and best non-food stalls, but eventually settled on David Schuitzer’s Rosti Chalet stall for Best Food Stall and Lisa Britzman’s Campo de Flori, for Best Non-Food Stall.
David said that this is the 15th year running that he has attended the A Taste of the Huon Festival as a stall holder, but it was the first year without his father Rene Schuitzer, who passed away just two weeks after last year’s Taste.
Rene was David’s inspiration in creating the Rosti Chalet, and helped David at the stall until his health declined, still continuing to visit the stall each year, despite his ill-health.
David dedicated this year’s stall and the win to his father, Rene.
Tony Coulson said that it was encouraging to see so many people putting in such a huge effort to making the A Taste of the Huon the best it could be, making the judges decision a tough one, he gave a special mention to Church Hill Brewery, who were at the festival for the first time, and Huon’s Little Treasures Bistro from Franklin. 
The Taste featured several big headline acts across the weekend, including Abba tribute band Bjorn Again on Sunday and Wilbur Wilde and Frankie J Holden on Monday.
Other music entertainment included the Navy Band, Girl Friday and Jeremy Matcham.
There was also plenty to keep the kids entertained, with Social Circus, bubble fun, face painting, jumping castles and rides.