If there was one lesson the Piedmont Food Fest team learned from last year’s inaugural event, it’s that festival goers have a voracious appetite for great food, drink, and entertainment.
For this year’s multicultural celebration, the team designed an even more immersive experience that’ll feature 30 food vendors, breweries, and wineries, an expanded KidZone carnival with 13 games for players of all ages, and a curated set of local businesses where visitors can peruse unique children’s books, toys and clothes, and even floral arrangements.
Piedmont Food Fest’s entertainment lineup has been similarly designed to showcase a broad variety of Bay Area talent, including:
- 11:15 a.m. — Emeryville Taiko has entertained audiences throughout the Bay Area for more than 25 years with its modern, electrifying “kumi-daiko” style art form, which has its roots in religious and folk festivals of Japan.
- 11:45 a.m. — Han Martial Arts Taekwondo Showcase featuring its youth demo team, trained under the internationally accomplished leadership of Master Han, which is a blend of Korean taekwondo supplemented with judo and youngmudo/hapkido techniques.
- 12:15 p.m. — Renegade Opera’s Jewelz Moya has brought her operatic arias as a lyric soprano to high profile events such as the Edwardian Ball SF and the Lightning in a Bottle festival.
- 1 p.m. — Hiiiwav Showcase, featuring Meaghan Maples and Tyler Reese. Hiiiwav helps Black musician-entrepreneurs build lasting businesses and uplift their communities.
- 2 p.m. — LIKHA Pilipino Folk Ensemble helps preserve indigenous Philippine art forms as expressed in music, literature, dance, arts, crafts, and attire through performance, community outreach, and youth development.
- 2:30 p.m. — Oakland Samba Revue brings its unique blend of “little big band” sounds of Brazilian samba de gafieira which blends together acoustic samba, jazz, and funk.
In partnership with the Appreciating Diverse Film Series, Piedmont Food Fest is also promoting the Thursday night short film showcase, Flavors of Families, which will screen five short films from 7-8 p.m. at Ellen Driscoll Playhouse, with more details available at www.diversityfilmseries.org.
Free registration, packages, and volunteer slots are now available on the website www.piedmontfoodfest.org. All registrations submitted by Friday, April 21 will be eligible to win sponsor prizes from Mulberry’s Market and Marielle Hayes Photography.
