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October 13, 2008

NMC will no longer host Epicurean Classic

By ART BUKOWSKI and SHERI McWHIRTER

TRAVERSE CITY -- The Epicurean Classic must find a new home after the Great Lakes Culinary Institute decided to stop hosting the annual event.

The Culinary Institute, part of Northwestern Michigan College, hosted the Epicurean Classic for five years. Mark Dressler, one of the Epicurean Classic's co-founders, said Institute director Fred Laughlin told him last week the school could no longer handle the increasingly popular event.

"I guess it's one of those things that happens with growth," Dressler said.

The mid-September event attracted more than 3,000 people this year and boasts dozens of cooking demonstrations, food and drink tastings and seminars from local and national culinary experts.

It was held each year on the grounds of the college's Great Lakes Campus, which also houses the Culinary Institute.

Laughlin said the three-day Epicurean Classic's early fall timing made it tough on students and staff, especially new students who start school only two weeks before the event.

"It's extremely difficult for them to get oriented to the school and help (put on) an event of that magnitude," he said. "Being a school, we have to focus on what's best for the student in every way ... it's just a lot for a school to undertake at such an early time of year."

Moving it to later in the year would be a risk because of the weather, Laughlin said, and an earlier date would be before the school year begins.

Epicurean Classic organizers hope to keep the event in Traverse City, Dressler said, but "everything is on the table." Moving to another city, or even another state, is a possibility.

"It's something that we would like to keep in the community, if in fact logistically we can do that," Dressler said.

The event was hard work, but NMC Culinary Institute students will miss it, they said.

"Personally, I think it will be a loss. It was a valuable program because I learned a lot there," said Marty Jensen, of Huntington Woods.

Courtland Nelson, of Traverse City, said some students didn't like working at the event, but he didn't have any problems. That may be because he received a lucky assignment for a first-year student, he said.

"A lot of them had to do dishes for nine hours. I enjoyed it, but I got to help out a chef, a few of them, actually," Nelson said. "A lot just worked the bottom end all day and it's more than one day."

Angie Roznowski, of Harrison, said the event required a lot of hard work, but it paid off because students were exposed to world-class chefs. She's angry and disappointed she won't be able to experience the event as a second-year student with even better opportunities to interact with chefs, she said.

"We sucked it up because of the pecking order, and now we're cut off," Roznowski said.

Amanda Danielson, owner of Trattoria Stella, taught at least one session at the Epicurean Classic during each of its five years. She hopes the event will secure another spot in the Traverse City area.

"It might take a bit more creativity, but there are other options," she said.

The festival could be housed at the Grand Traverse Commons area of the old state hospital or other in-town locations, Danielson said, or be split into different locations, much like the Traverse City Film Festival.

"It's a great thing to have here, but it's not going to make or break our town, certainly," she said.

Eric Patterson, owner of The Cook's House in Traverse City, said the loss of the Epicurean Classic would represent an economic and cultural blow to the community.

"Traverse City and the whole area have such great potential to be a great food destination," he said. "The Epicurean was going to be a cornerstone of that."

But like Danielson, Patterson believes the festival could stay put.

"I think it just depends on how bad they want it to stay here, and, apparently, it's going to come down to how bad the community wants it to stay here," he said. "I'd like to see the community rally around this and get it set in a nice spot."

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