Bake-offs, recipes, food shows and cookbooks, oh my!

By Sharon Hallack, Community Correspondent

The National Asparagus Festival (NAF) as we know it today actually got its start with recipes. Back in 1972 members of the Shelby Chamber of Commerce suggested hosting an Asparagus Bake-Off as a fun way to get people together and promote asparagus. News reports from that time say the event “...was so successful an asparagus smorgasbord was held two weeks later.” The following year in 1973 another bakeoff was held and remained a part of the festival until 1992. For the most part, the event was only attended by those who were participating.

Then in 1993, with bake-off popularity and participation falling off, Harry Foster, then Executive Director of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board, suggested holding a “Food Show” as an alternative way to showcase the many different ways the vegetable could be prepared. It took a couple of years to gain traction among festival growers, but in time, as venues, logistics and details were refined, the event became a mainstay and a festival favorite for many.

Kathy Walicki of Hart, was on the NAF board at that time and was known a great cook. She was asked to assume the role of Food Show coordinator in 1996. A role she would fulfill for 14 more years. “The food show was one event that was just getting started when I was asked to be the coordinator. I received help from local Chef Deb Ward, who helped to build up the participation and entries. We had years where we ran out of food due to high attendance. We had years also when Deb was able to involve her French cooking students to participate with various food entries. The students were a big hit with the attendees. Having the attendees vote for their favorite dishes was unique and allowed them to feel a part of the event.”

When it came time for Walicki to retire from the board she asked Tammy Longcore of Hart, a food show entrant for several years, if she would like to be the coordinator. Longcore eagerly agreed and went on to run the food show for the next five years, from 2010 to 2015. “I was a participant in 2008 and 2009, then Kathy Walicki asked if I’d be interested in running the show in 2010,” Longcore said. “My first entry was Asparagus Pasties. I’m from the Upper Peninsula and when I asked my husband what I should make for it he suggested my pasties. I used beef as the meat and paired it with asparagus. It was a winning combination. A gentleman came up after trying everything and said it was the pasty he’d ever had. I remember a couple who came from Wis. every year. They loved every part of the festival and always looked me up when they came to the food show.”

“The year we had Chef Lynn Crawford from Pitchin’ In, it (the food show) went nuts,” Longcore said. “That was a big food show. Generally we would have 12 or so participants. That year there were close to thirty. We’d have people come through the different shows and say they didn’t like asparagus. I’d tell them they probably just hadn’t tried it in different recipes. It’s such a versatile vegetable. It blends so well with so many things. Many would come back up to me and say they discovered they did like asparagus!” Longcore said.

In the early years, recipe brochures, with selections from local restaurants, were created and available at local venues, or passed out at parades and events. As word of the festival spread, people from all over the country were contacting the NAF requesting recipes and asking how to prepare it. Some would even go so far as to send in their own recipes.

By 1976 the NAF Committee had created packs of 8-10 recipes that could be mailed to anyone sending a self-addressed stamped envelope (those were the days!). Judy Barecki, corresponding secretary for the festival at the time, was kept extremely busy filling the requests. It was reported that over 6000 recipe packs were distributed and/or mailed.

By 1980 committee members had put together their first cookbook. Since that time two other cookbooks have been published (2011, 2020) all entitled “A Festival of Good Eating” including many winning bake-off and food show recipes of the past.

“The cookbooks that we maintained and the recipe cards we developed were very popular and one of the easiest ways to promote asparagus. They were something the queens could use as gifts when attending various events or appearances,” Walicki said.

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