Starts tomorrow 11AM runs thru Sun till 5PM
http://www.wrchamber.com/Local BBQ, ice cream joints among fest vendorsWHITING | Of course pierogi are king at Pierogi Fest. Crowds jam 119th Street in the Little City by the Lake, looking for their favorite vendor, looking for the shortest line or looking for something a little out of the ordinary, like alligator-stuffed pierogi.
More than 20 pierogi vendors will be on hand to serve the namesake Polish dumpling at this weekend's festival. But, the fest also treats taste buds looking for something else for their palate.
"We constantly try to update Pierogi Fest," said Tom Dabertin, chairman of the festival and president of the Whiting-Robertsdale Chamber of Commerce. "We often switch our food vendors."
Organizers actually limit the number of vendors for each item so there aren't too many duplicates. That way, there aren't 10 elephant ear booths and multiple places to buy a lemon shake-up.
"We spend a lot of time going through and evaluating our vendors," Dabertin said.
Volunteers walk the fest and photograph vendor booths to make sure they are clean and presentable and presenting the kind of message the fest wants, he said.
"We have hundreds of food vendors that contact us," Dabertin said. "We turn down a lot."
Among the new vendors this year is Ben's Soft Pretzels. Dabertin said he was at a University of Notre Dame football game last year and saw the soft pretzels sold outside the stadium.
"I'd never seen an outside vendor before at Notre Dame," he said.
The pretzel shop known for drawing crowds signed up in January for Pierogi Fest participation, one of the first new vendors for 2015, he said.
Other local vendors include Mexican restaurant El Salto, ice cream shop Valpo Velvet and barbecue joint True BBQ and Whiskey Bar.
Vendors trek from farther away for the fest, too, including a barbecue vendor out of Tennessee, Dabertin said.
"We have about a dozen new vendors," he said.