On April 26, the second annual State College Mac and Cheese Fest took place. The festival was hosted at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center and ran in two sessions: noon-2:00 p.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.
The event room was filled with crowds of people, tables of mac and cheese vendors, sponsors and live music. Anyone wanting a quieter environment could enjoy their mac and cheese in a less crowded family room next door. Each person who attended the event received a free tote bag and a stack of tickets to redeem for mac and cheese samples.
This year’s mac and cheese fest had a huge turnout, with over 30 vendors and about 1,200 visitors and families, over double as many as last year. Attendees voted mac and cheese vendors for awards, including “The Cheesiest,” “Most Like Mom’s,” “Most Original,” and “People’s Choice.”
Many vendors presented unique and creative flavors during the festival, including pizza mac and cheese, and Penn Steaks’ steak mac and cheese, which was voted most original.
The inspiration for the steak mac and cheese came from the restaurant’s own cheese steaks.
“We wanted to take our ribeye steak and our chicken, mix it with our cheese and macaroni, and we made mac and cheese. Usually, no one adds bread, but our cheese steak comes with a roll. So we decided to offer bread with it,” Penn Steaks co-founder Fred Dailey said.
The “Most Like Mom’s” and “People’s Choice” awards went to Haywood’s O.T.G., a restaurant in Mill Hall, PA, and the cheesiest award went to Kimanzi Waller, owner of Solid Gold Concessions pop-up restaurant and the Kravings by K catering service, for the second year in a row.
“…We got invited last year, and we actually won the people’s choice and cheesiest, and this year they invited us back, and we decided to come. We [make] our mac and cheese with what we use every day at our food stand,” Waller said.
State College’s first mac and cheese fest took place in 2024, inspired by the popular mac and cheese event in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, Seven Mountains Media’s Courtney Paul-Wessner said. Each year, the event is hosted by Seven Mountains Media, and a portion of the profits benefits the Centre County United Way, an organization that supports local health and human service programs.
“[There are] a lot of nonprofits here that participated, there are activities for the kids and things to do, this is truly like there’s something for everyone in the family,” Paul-Wessner said.
The State College Mac and Cheese Fest is an event designed to create fun and foster community. After all, “…who doesn’t love mac and cheese? It’s one of those foods that brings everybody together,” 3WZ radio host Jerry Valeri said.
In the future, Seven Mountains Media plans to continue hosting the State College Mac and Cheese Fest each year.
