Transcription of Stefanie Manning for the show Harvest and Health #264
Dr. Lisa: My next guest is an individual who is helping make new and exciting things happen in the city of Portland. Today, I have Stephanie Manning here with me who along with Gabrielle Garofalo is one of the new producers of Harvest on the Harbor. Their partnership began over 20 years ago and they started working together at Newsweek Magazine in New York City. Since then, they have remained business colleagues and friends with a passion for marketing events and all things culinary.
In 2010, when working together on a multi-day event for O, the Oprah Magazine, they’ve decided to put their talents and resources together to create their own business. In 2016, that was realized with the purchase of Harvest on the Harbor from the Greater Portland Convention and Visitors Bureau who created the event in 2008.
They’re honored to have the opportunity to take this brand to the next level. Their vision for Harvest on the Harbor goes well beyond a multi-day food and drink festival. Their mission is to use this event to celebrate everything about the food and drink culture in Maine and to have a lasting and residual impact on the Maine food economy. Thanks so much for coming in here today, Stefanie.
Stefanie: Thanks for having me, Lisa.
Dr. Lisa: It’s really exciting to be watching you take something that has been successful and already bringing people to the city of Portland for really enjoying what Maine has to offer but taking it into a different direction and maybe to a whole new level.
Stefanie: We hope to do both of those things. I was presented with the opportunity when I had heard through the grapevine that the Convention and Visitors Bureau was looking to get out of the events business which is not really their primary business. Considering my background and really passion for bringing people together in an experiential way, it was just one of those opportunities where I was like, “This sounds like it could be the thing for me,” so I just jumped at it. I was fortunate enough that my friend and business colleague, Gabrielle, wanted to do it with me. Together we’ve got years and years of experience producing multi-day, national scale events and we really feel like we can bring that expertise to bear for the city of Portland which we’re really, really excited about.
Dr. Lisa: You currently live in Cape Elizabeth with your husband who grew up on Munjoy Hill and actually is the owner of the Miss Portland Diner.
Stefanie: Correct. My husband is a Mainer through and through. The first time I visited Maine in the early ’90s, I knew this was a place that eventually I wanted to come and live and raise a family and was thrilled to have the opportunity to do that. The diner really was the thing that propelled us to moving our family here from New Jersey.
We did that in 2013 and in addition to the diner, I’m the VP of Marketing and Circulation at the Portland Press Herald which is a big job. We’re doing really fascinating things there. Our business has changed a lot in the last three years. Then, this opportunity cracked up and here I am producing a four day culinary experience about 12 events that are going to really touch on all of the key pieces of what makes the food and drink culture here what it is.
Dr. Lisa: Well, tell me what it is about Maine that got you so excited and maybe about Maine food specifically.
Stefanie: Right. When I think back to the first time I was here, I remember walking around the old port and just being so fascinated with the development that was going on. You think back 20 years or so, there was a lot, a lot going on. Then fast forward 10 years ago to when we had the opportunity to purchase the Miss Portland Diner from the city.
Ten years ago is really when the food scene was taking hold. What’s funny is that the same year that we established the new Miss Portland Diner was the first year of Harvest on the Harbor. My whole world is connected by those three things, I remember reading the newspaper and hearing about this multi-day food festival and being like, “There’s just something going on in Portland.” Watching that happen and evolve over the years and being a part of it has been really thrilling.
Dr. Lisa: Harvest on the Harbor has been around since 2008 and a lot of things have changed in that period of time and you have a new and different vision for this. What is it that you and Gabrielle are hoping to accomplish?
Stefanie: The Convention and Visitor’s Bureau created Harvest on the Harbor as a marketing platform. As a way to showcase what was going on in the food culture here to people from away. That’s their job is to drive tourists to our town and to put people in hotel rooms and to get them into the restaurants and to get them into the retailers.
I go around town and a lot of people haven’t heard of Harvest on the Harbor which is actually pretty amazing considering it’s been around for all that time but when you really think about it, it had been marketed to people from away. It hadn’t really been marketed as an opportunity to bring the community together to celebrate.
For me, that’s the missing piece. What we’ve built here is incredible, there are so many people from so many walks of life and so many different parts of Maine who are working really hard to keep this food economy growing. We need a party, we need an opportunity to celebrate and to bring all those people together and to bring the community together to support them in their efforts. For us, it’s really about highlighting the key things that make our food economy what it is and just having a really good time doing it.
Dr. Lisa: What are the days for Harvest on the Harbor?
Stefanie: Harvest on the Harbor will take place here in Portland from Thursday, October 20th through Sunday, October 23rd.
Dr. Lisa: Tell me what people can expect over that period of time.
Stefanie: Sure. We’re producing, I guess, it’s about 10 custom events on our own and then, we’re also working with the community to have opportunities to promote other people’s events that are going on during the same time as well as shopping opportunities that will be going on all over town during the same time so really trying to infiltrate Portland and really create a lot of ways for people to get involved. Our scheduled events, everything that we’re producing will happen at 58 Fore Street – The Portland Company and we’re really excited for the opportunity to bring people together.
Dr. Lisa: I remember over the years seeing part of the big tent peaks of Harvest on the Harbor right on the harbor itself and 58 Fore Street is not that far away but it is a slightly different venue. Why did you decide to choose to go there?
Stefanie: They actually stopped doing the tents a couple of years ago and I think for us, 58 Fore Street gives us the same squire footage that a tent would and it really takes away the weather factor. At the end of October, who knows what we can expect? For us, while 58 Fore Street is what it still is, we just figured that we would take advantage of the big cavernous space that’s there. We’ll be utilizing different parts of the building for different events to change up the experience and the look and feel of things.
Dr. Lisa: Why October? Why was that chosen to be the time when Harvest on the Harbor to take place?
Stefanie: We purchased Harvest on the Harbor in February and that just seemed too late to be rethinking the timing of the event. It originally was put post-Columbus Day to extend the tourism season. Again the CVB, it was a marketing platform and they had their reasons for picking the timing. That’s definitely something that we will think about and consider going into 2017. For us, ’16 is about executing with excellence. It’s about changing the way that we talk about Harvest on the Harbor and change the events themselves and really to executive with excellence and to prove to the community, both from the chef’s standpoint and our sponsor’s standpoint and also the attendee’s standpoint, that these are going to be fantastic events no matter what time of year they are. Then going into 2017, we’ll rethink the timing probably.
Dr. Lisa: Who are some of the partners that you’ve been working with?
Stefanie: The first event that we’re going to do is called The Sustainable Seafood Soiree and Supper and we’re thrilled to be working in partnership with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. The Gulf of Maine Research Institute promotes all of the seafood that is pervasive here in Maine and they’ve got a bunch of partner chefs so we’ll be bringing those chefs together to curate a fantastic passed hors d’oeuvres cocktail party and then, a plated multi-course sit down dinner. We’re so fortunate to have Steve and Michelle Corry leading the charge on that event. Their chef, Kyle Robinson, will be one of the chefs who works on the event. We also have Melissa Bouchard from DiMillo’s and Andrew Chadwick from Inn by the Sea. All of whom are culinary partners of the GMRI so we’re really psyched about that event. I think it’ll be a really great way to start four days of fantastic food events.
Dr. Lisa: What I understand, sustainable seafood really is focusing on maybe the under loved species of fish. I’m trying to get away from species of fish that are overfished and showing people that we can actually make something really great and tasty out of something that we have more of rather than anything we have less of.
Stefanie: Exactly and that’s what will be on our menu.
Dr. Lisa: Who else? What else do you have going on?
Stefanie: Typically at Harvest on the Harbor, there has been a Maine lobster chef competition and we have decided, in our first year, to take the competition out of play. What we learned from the community is that local chefs don’t really like to be putted up against each other like, “We’re a community and why should we be competing with each other.” Obviously, the nature of the business is to be competitive but we don’t need to do that in an event format. We’ve decided, instead, to do a lobster chef celebration.
We’re working in partnership with the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative. We’ll bring together about a dozen chefs to feature 12 very different lobster recipes. It’ll be a pretty traditional tasting event where we do pairings with beverages of all sorts, the timing is happy hour on Friday and that’s going to be a fantastic event also. Participating in that, we’ve got Nick Krunkkala from Liquid Riot and Isaac Aldridge from the Pilot House at the Sebasco Harbor Inn, Matt Ginn from EVO who actually is the raining champ of the Maine Lobster Chef Competition. We’re pretty psyched with the line-up for that too.
Dr. Lisa: You’re not just bringing people from the Portland area, your reach goes far beyond that.
Stefanie: Yeah. I think ultimately, we want to be a representative of the Maine food economy. It’s very easy here in Portland to be Portland-centric and because this is where we live and work, it’s easy to connect with these folks but yeah, by all means, we are more than interested in representing Maine as a state.
Dr. Lisa: You have a few more days of events.
Stefanie: I know, I feel like I could go on and on and on. On Saturday, our signature event is called Market on the Harbor. We’re doing this in two sessions and for all intents and purposes, it’s the biggest food sampling opportunity there is. We’ll bring together about 100 food purveyors to sample their products but also to vend their products.
We’re really excited to be partnering with Whole Foods who’ll be bringing a bunch of their local suppliers in and doing a pop-up experience where you can taste and purchase their products. .
There are so many people doing such amazing work in the food space and not in restaurants, people who are making fantastic energy bars and amazing granola and potato chips and foods of all sorts and we really want this to be the opportunity for them to showcase what they’re doing, give people a taste and sell.
Dr. Lisa: For people who are, say a vegetarian or gluten-free or have some sort of other dietary needs or maybe are just a little bit more picky, will there be lots of options to choose from?
Stefanie: The goal is lots of options, at all of our events frankly. We do recognize that crafting your culinary choices is definitely part of the food experience so we’ll work really hard to represent everybody. It’s hard to promise that because we’re really relying on a lot of people to help us execute well but that’s our goal.
Dr. Lisa: What else? Anything else going on in your line-up?
Stefanie: The only other event that I wanted to mention today is our Chef Showcase which will be our finale event on Sunday and we’re thrilled to have Harding Lee Smith helping us out and leading the charge on bringing together the top chefs around Maine, the people who really started all of these, who put a stake in the ground and said, “There is something here and we’re going to create it.”
This also will be a pretty traditional tasting event, we’re also really excited to have the opportunity to feature a handful of mixologists at this event because the beverage scene is equal to the food scene or at least, growing to be equal. We’re excited to have the opportunity to showcase some of the people who are doing amazing work in mixology. We’ve got Vena’s Fizz House signed on to do one of the bars. They’re doing pretty incredible work in selling a lot of local product also. That’ll be our grand finale event.
Dr. Lisa: Stefanie, I know that one of the things that chefs in our area really like to focus on is helping bring food to people who maybe don’t have the same access that maybe the festival goers, Harvest on the Harbor goers have. You have a charity that you’re working to support, tell me about that.
Stefanie: We’re working hand-in-hand with Full Plates Full Potential. We believe strongly as to working mothers that eradicating childhood hunger, specifically in Maine but also across the United States, is probably one of the most important things that we need to do. We are thrilled to be working with Full Plates, they do really incredible work, I think more than any other organization. They’re really spreading the love. They work hand-in-hand with the folks who are on the frontlines to make sure that the moneys are distributed in a way that really makes a difference. We couldn’t be prouder to align ourselves with the work that they’re doing.
Dr. Lisa: You also have some great sponsor partners that have come in to help you out.
Stefanie: Yeah, we’re so fortunate to be getting the reception that we are from folks of all kinds. Really, there’s not a person that I talk to that’s not encouraged or excited about what we’re trying to accomplish here. We’re thrilled to have Bangor Savings Bank onboard as a partner for our Sustainable Seafood event. We’ve got Whole Foods as I mentioned as a partner. We’re working with Native Maine who is the supplier to a lot of the chefs who are participating. Native Maine is a great partner and will be helping us to execute it at the highest level.
Dr. Lisa: If you’re someone from the Portland area or someone from away that is looking to do just an entire weekend full of fun. What would you personally envisioned that weekend to look like? Would it be not just the festival but also getting out into the old port doing some shopping, heading around town?
Stefanie: Absolutely. Thanks for bringing this up, we’re actually partnering with Portland Downtown which is an organization that is in collaboration with the city about really creating the downtown experience here in Portland. We will be working with them for ticket holders to have access to all sorts of shopping opportunities in town and that will include everything from specials at restaurants to discounts in shops, maybe even tasting opportunities around town in some of the places that won’t necessarily be at our events. There’ll be a whole list on our website, Harvestontheharbor.com, of the locations around town that ticket holders will be able to go into and benefit from as part of their weekend experience. We’re taking a very pointed approach with our events and we understand that not everything will appeal to everyone and part of the rationale for that is that we want people in the restaurants, we want people in the stores, we want people to make a weekend of it and really experience Maine outside of the Portland Company. What we’ll be doing will be fantastic but there’s a lot to do and see here.
Dr. Lisa: It seems as though the idea of a food and wine festival has really become more important to people, really, across the country and across the world. I know there are big festivals that take place in Charleston, I think in Aspen and San Francisco, New York. Why is it that we are so enamored of this idea, of the food and wine festival?
Stefanie: I’m sure that it rings true in most communities is that the food sector and I know this firsthand from watching my husband do the work that he do, it’s really hard work. It’s really super hard work. There just needs to come a time where the community pulls together to, not only support, but also to celebrate what has happened. I also think it gives us an opportunity and Portland is very much on the national food scope. We have the attention of national media and I think this is just another way to showcase who we are and what we do and gives me a voice and a look and a feel that’s packaged up beyond just a restaurant experience.
Dr. Lisa: I’m impressed with the fact that you and Gabrielle are just jumping into this with both feet. Well four feet, I guess, the two of you. In that you’ve really just transitioned into this in February. Once you’ve got this one under your belt and I’m sure it’s going to be very successful and everybody’s going to want to go to this event in October, what do you envision after that?
Stefanie: We’ve been bouncing around a ton of ideas. We went into this with the intention of really seeing through 2016 before we decided what it looks like afterwards. We’re learning something new every single day. This is no small undertaking and it really does require a ton of people banding together to make the vision happen. Honestly, right now, it’s hard to see beyond October 23rd but we have ideas and I don’t know that I’m ready to share them yet but we’ve got ideas.
For us, we don’t want it to be about a four day event experience, we want there to be an always on presence in a way that we can support the community on an ongoing basis. While we love the brand, Harvest on the Harbor, it does feel a little restricting to a certain time of year. We, again, are committed to doing this for October and then, have a bunch of ideas about how it will evolve going forward. We need to prove ourselves first and we know that and we’re excited to do it.
Dr. Lisa: Anything else you think that people who are listening might want to know?
Stefanie: Just a plug really, our entire event schedule will be available on Harvestontheharbor.com which is also where you can see everyone who is participating, all of the shopping opportunities, you’ll be able to buy tickets from there. There’s a link to the Full Plates Full Potential and how to get involved in eradicating childhood hunger which we feel really, really strongly about. Everything you want to know is on Harvestontheharbor.com.
Dr. Lisa: Well, very good and on our show notes page, we will also have your website. If people want to go to Lovemaineradio.com, we’ll send them in your direction and I know that I will see you at Harvest on the Harbor. I’m very much looking forward to this event. I think you’re going to do a great job, you and Gabrielle. We have been speaking with Stefanie Manning who along with Gabrielle Garofalo is the new producer, both of them are the new producers, of Harvest on the Harbor right here in Portland which will take place in October. I encourage people to checkout the website and go to the event and make this a great success for this year and the years to come. Thanks for coming in.
Stefanie: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.