Join us Thurs. Sept. 25 from 4 - 8 PM at the Rockford Grange for a brand new festival celebrating the time-honored traditions of food preservation.
This is our very first YES WE CAN! Preservation Festival and it will be taking place on Thursday, September 25 from 4-8 pm at the Rockford Grange.
Featuring:
Nerd Talks! Ted-style talks getting into the nitty gritty of all things food preservation.
Demonstrations of preservation skills
Museum of the Preserved (bring your oldest and most unique preserved foods to display).
Raffle
$5 entry fee but no one turned away for lack of funds.
We’re currently looking for presenters for both our Nerd Talks and Demonstrations. Fill out the form below if you’re interested in being a presenter!
Interested in presenting?
The Rockford Grange is holding a “We Can! Preservation Festival” in collaboration with Gorge Grown on Thursday, September 25, 2025 from 4-8pm. We are looking for two kinds of presenters. We’d love your genius and talent in the rich mix for this community learning event!
There are two tracks available. NERD TALKS will be in the upstairs hall area and will be a sit-down audience event similar to TED TALKS. Downstairs in the kitchen will be PRESERVATION DEMONSTRATIONS. If you have multiple offerings, please list them in the additional information space at the bottom of this form. Presenters will receive a $50 gift card as a thank you.
NERD TALKS - Each session is 25 minutes, with 5 min to switch to the next speaker. That means 15-20 minutes for the “nerd talk” - deep diving into preservation skills and approaches, from miso to meat, from fruit to cheese, etc. … Each of these would be followed by some 5-10 min Q/A. Topics could include… drying, pickling, fermenting, canning, cheese making, charcuterie. Have you wanted to really research some aspect of preservation? Here's your chance to present your findings! These will be ideally be recorded and shared on YouTube through the Rockford Grange.
PRESERVATION DEMOS - We’re looking for some folks to offer 30-60 minute hands-on preservation demos, possibly with Julia-Childs style phase by phase examples of the process. Handouts would be great if that’s your jam. Topics for preservation demos ideally include fermentation, waterbath, pressure canning, dehydrating, jams, sauces, canned fruit, pickling, etc... Please no cheesemaking or meat preservation demos due to the limited time slot and the food safety discussion needs required around these more potentially hazardous foods.