Monroe Cheese Fest will be chock full of shows, vendors, games and cheese

The Village of Monroe’s Cheese Festival is back September 10, cheddar than ever.

Lyn Cear, chairwoman and kids zone lead for the Cheese Festival Committee, said the event will boast over 60 vendors, as well as live performances, beer and wine gardens, and “good old-fashioned fun.”

Attendees will be glad to hear the Cheese Festival will feature “a lot of cheese” — a seemingly obvious item that was noticeably absent at past festivals. The origins of the Cheese Festival lie in the invention of Liederkranz and Velveeta cheeses by Emil Frey, an apprentice cheesemaker for the Monroe Cheese Company from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

Lake Street will be lined with vendors, including local artisans, civic organizations, local businesses, and direct sales. Food vendors will include Jamaican, Argentinian, Italian, Hungarian, Mexican, and more.

Attendees are encouraged to walk the entire festival, but can also bring lawn chairs to set up by the performance area, where they can listen to live music and watch dance performances. JavaJo’s (the site of the old Monroe Cheese Company), Bourbon Street Bar and Grill, and O’Toole’s Pub will anchor the event, in addition to a kids zone area with activities like sand art and potato sack races.

Monroe Town Councilman Sal Scancarello, the small business lead on the festival committee, said the Cheese Festival is an opportunity to showcase Monroe’s growing commerce.

“I think a lot of people in the community are unaware that a lot of these new businesses are here,” Scancarello said. “We’re hoping that the Cheese Fest gives a jump start to a lot more people coming to Lake St. during the week and on the weekends.”

There will be a cheese passport at the event, which guests can fill out by visiting different vendors throughout the festival. A completed passport will earn one entry into a drawing to win a week-long trip to southwest Florida. Another way to enter the raffle is to find a “cheese ball,” or Cheese Festival stress ball, hidden on festival grounds.

The Cheese Festival Committee, composed of nine members, only started planning this year’s festival in August, a project that would normally be completed over the course of a year. Village of Monroe Mayor Neil Dwyer supported bringing the Cheese Festival back after the village’s less successful Founder’s Day events in 2018 and 2019.

“The takeaway for me is community,” Dwyer said. “I want to see people coming out, I want to see support, I want people coming into our community.”

The committee hopes the festival will bridge old and new Monroe residents.

“It’s going to be very similar to the Cheese Festival that I remember and people who lived here years ago will remember,” said Scancarello, a 25-year Monroe resident. “It’s going to be a great, great experience for the whole community. We’re looking forward to it.”