Food, music fill the air at Westmoreland Fair grounds this weekend

The smell of burgers and barbecue smoke was in the air Friday night at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds during the Food & Music Festival, the first time fair organizers have promoted their own food-truck event.

“It’s great to be out serving food for the public,” said Jason Frye of Pleasant Lane Farms in Unity, who, along with Logan Family Farms and Jesse’s Chicken, took over a cinder-block kitchen building on the fairgrounds as the Westmoreland Farms Food Group.

In addition to the food trucks, the food group’s members are bringing local products directly to customers from the region’s farms, a sort of test run for bigger things later this summer.

“It’s just a way to bring together the farm-to-table movement in the area,” said Frye, the seventh generation of his family to be involved in farming. “During the week of the Westmoreland Fair, we’ll be in full operation doing fried cheese curds and serving a lot of different dishes. We’ll also have a small farmer’s market the week of the fair.”

For this weekend, though, it’s funnel and chimney cakes, burgers, pierogies, barbecue and more, with live music from local bands all weekend long.

The Food & Music Festival is scheduled for 2 to 10 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the complex off Mt. Pleasant Road in Mt. Pleasant Township. Owners of antique and classic cars will exhibit their retro rides both days.

Admission to the festival is $5, or free for kids 12 and younger. No tickets will be pre-sold, and payment at the gate is cash only.

Participants include Aunt Dee Dee’s, Big Black Grill, Comers Cold Stop, Hoshi Food Truck, Klosky’s Pierogies, Li’s Concessions, Little E’s, Overly’s Country Christmas, PGH EATZ, Pitaland, Post Avenue, Steel City Chimneys and Westmoreland Family Farms.