Finger Lakes Cheese Trail Open House on 11/17

The Finger Lakes Cheese Trail’s final Open House of the year is slated for Saturday November 17, from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Again, 14 of the 15 farms will be participating in this one-day event.This Holiday Open House is just in time to help artisanal cheese lovers stock up for holiday parties, festive meals, and gift giving. “With many farms either closing or shortening their hours during the cold season, this is the best opportunity to visit them personally until spring,” points Susanne Messmer, of Lively Run Goat Dairy in Interlaken. Lively Run is an example of one of the farms that closes to the public until April.On that Saturday, many of the farms will be offering farm tours, and several will have with extra activities and host local vendors to help visitors with a variety of their locavore holiday shopping needs.The 14 Creameries that will be hosting the Open Houses on their farms are: 4 Tin Fish Farm, Port ByronEngelbert Farms, NicholsFinger Lakes Cheese Co., MecklenburgFinger Lakes Dexter Creamery, King FerryHillcrest Dairy, MoraviaJerry Dell Farm & Store, FreevilleKeeley’s Cheese Company, King FerryKenton’s Cheese Company, TrumansburgLively Run Goat Dairy, InterlakenMuranda Cheese Co., WaterlooShtayburne Farm, Rock StreamSide Hill Acres Goat Dairy, CandorSunset View Creamery, OdessaVanillen Dairy, OvidLike with all the Trail’s Open Houses, the key to making the experience enjoyable is planning. First, make sure to bring a cooler to keep the cheese fresh while traveling between farms. Second, and probably most important, Trail reps advise going to the website, looking at the Google map, and planning a specific route by grouping four or five creameries together.It’s important to note that there is only one Open House schedule for 2013, which will be the Columbus Day Weekend Open House. The Trail will be substituting in other events, such as their successful Finger Lakes Cheese Festival on July 27, and a series of events with the Seneca Lake Wine Trail culminating with the Wine Trail’s Spring Wine & Cheese Weekend April 26-28. The Trail is also working on a collaborative event with the Finger Lakes Beer Trail and hopes to announce details on that soon.