May 9, 2023, Midland ON – Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival officially announced today that it will return to the Town of Midland’s downtown core and waterfront on June 10, 2023.
“Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival is one of the Town’s annual highlights and we can’t wait to welcome festival visitors to Midland this June,” said Mayor Bill Gordon. The Mayor will be at the festival to declare it open at 9 a.m., following the Piping of the Tart throughout the festival with the Midland Legion’s Pipes and Drums.
“Ontarians love their butter tarts,” said Karen Mealing, Manager of Culture and Community with the Town of Midland and one of the festival organizers. “Whether you like your butter tarts plain or with raisins, with a runny or firm filling, or vegan or gluten-free, everyone will be able to find a favourite at our festival.”
In addition to the 200,000 plus butter tarts available that day, the festival features many downtown merchants who will expand their businesses onto the sidewalks in front of their establishments and more than 200 vendors selling everything from butter tarts to clothing, jewellery, home décor, personal care products, and hand-crafted items. There will be food trucks for those who aren’t just making butter tarts their sole food source for the day.
The free festival features the Dairy Farmers of Ontario Stage with live music by bands including Gibbons & Figgs, Memphis Mudd, and Kitty and the Boyz.
Other family-friendly activities include a Kids Zone at Harbourside Park as well as buskers and performers entertaining visitors throughout the festival.
Professional and amateur/home bakers will vie for the title of baking the Best Butter Tart at the Egg Farmers of Ontario Butter Tart Contest.
Contest categories include Traditional (plain, raisin, pecan or walnut), and Wild Style (butter tarts with a non-traditional ingredient or two). For anyone interested in sampling the same tarts as the judges, mixed six-packs of contest butter tarts will be available for sale for $15.
Awards:
Top 100 Festival and Event in Ontario by Festival and Events Ontario, February 2019, 2020 and 2023.
People’s Choice Award for Favourite Regional Festival by the Simcoe County Region Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association, April 2019 and April 2018.
Facebook: @BestButterTartFestival Instagram: @ButterTartFestival Twitter: @ButterTartFstvl Tags: #buttertartfestival #ilovebuttertarts
Contact:
Nicole Major, Tourism and Special Events Planner Town of Midland 705-526-4275, ext. 3206 nmajor@midland.ca
Karen Mealing, Manager of Culture and Community Town of Midland 705-526-4275, ext. 2200 kmealing@midland.ca
