Getting cheesy: Peterborough Mac and Cheese Festival is underway

The inaugural Mac and Cheese Festival is underway in Peterborough, Ont., and you still have time to vote for the best dish in town.

“We really wanted to bring people into the downtown core,” said Hillary Flood, communications manager for Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area, the organization behind the idea.

“After patio season there is a bit of a lull and we have our wonderful students back and we thought, let’s do a festival! Why not mac and cheese? It’s fall, it’s comforting, you don’t get much more comforting than mac and cheese,” said Flood.

Eighteen downtown restaurants are participating in the event, which runs through October. You can find a full list of stops online on the interactive mac map, which outlines who is involved and shows menu options.

But Flood said these aren’t your typical menu items, with options ranging from mac and cheese balls to mac and cheese pizza.

“We have a gambit of various mac and cheeses,” she said. “We are talking classic, adventurous macs and fancy ones too.”

Like a seven-cheese crab blend served in a bacon collar from Amandalas, a mac and cheese sandwich from Sam’s Place, or maybe the ultimate fall dish — mac and cheese served in a small pumpkin at The Boardwalk Lounge.

Flood said they have seen a lot of interest from the public, with the mac map being viewed more than 27,000 times in the first two weeks of the event.

“I think it just shows how much people want to come together around cheesy noodles,” she said.

You have until the end of October to vote for your favourite dish and can cast your ballot online at the Peterborough Mac and Cheese Festival website.