Hub Staff

The first annual Port Elgin PoutineFest hosted by the Port Elgin BIA and the Saugeen Shores Splash Pad Committee took place on Saturday, August 15th. The event was held to raise money towards the Saugeen Shores Splash Pad project.

Wristbands were sold at Coulter Parkette for $10 per adult and $5 per child, and allowed people to sample poutine from the seven participating restaurants: Allan's Fireside Grill, Chester's Bar and Grill, JC's, Ristorante Rosina, The Garage Sandwich Co., The Queen's Bar and Grill and The Wismer House.

Each of the restaurants offered samples of unique poutines outside of their establishments and participants had an opportunity to vote on their favourite.

The event was to be held from 3pm to 8pm but because of the unexpected high number participants, the restaurants began running out of poutine by 4:30pm and by 6pm they had stopped selling wristbands. All seven restaurants had long line ups waiting to sample their food.

Amy Shute of the Port Elgin BIA and Lake Huron Children's Festival committee said, “We sold 1,200 [wristbands] between kids and adults.”

“We can't believe the turnout. We truly appreciate people's patience and understanding yesterday,” she later posted on social media. “In the end we sold and served to 750 adults and 500 children... Absolutely there were some changes we would make if we continue this as a fundraiser for the future and it was great to see how much people like to support a night out, good food and a community cause.”

The money raised for the splash pad totaled over $8,000. Shute thanked and praised the participating restaurants for their time, energy and poutines and asked for support of their establishments all year round.

The eventual winner of the 2015 PoutineFest was The Wismer House who narrowly beat Chester's Bar and Grill by just one single vote.