More than 45 local food vendors are set to fill the Miners Foundry Cultural Center in Nevada City on Saturday, September 26, for the inaugural FoodX expo, a showcase built to connect small foothill food businesses with buyers, investors and hungry neighbors. Expect tables piled with organic artisan tortillas, slow-cooked pulled lamb arepas, Sevillano olive hummus, locally sourced acorn flour treats, red pepper romesco, locally roasted espresso and chocolate dipped biscotti, according to the event's own program details.
The event is organized by Sierra Commons, a Nevada City-based nonprofit that has spent years mentoring budding entrepreneurs through programs like its Business Igniter, which helps founders move from concept to working business model, and its Food Accelerator, which tackles the specific hurdles of food businesses such as permitting, sourcing and food safety, according to the Sacramento Bee. Sierra Commons founder and executive director Robert X. Trent said the organization wanted to bring its graduates together for a joint celebration, per the same report. Trent founded Sierra Commons in 2009 as the Sierra Nevada region's first coworking space and rural business incubator, according to Bitney Prep.
FoodX is expected to draw more than 500 attendees, including consumers, commercial buyers and investors, as reported by YubaNet. Trent said the event aims to connect entrepreneurs with buyers and investors, per the Sacramento Bee's reporting. The expo is open to any food business in the foothills and will feature dozens of booths alongside a mock grocery store aisle of local products, where lottery winners can choose five items from the shelves.
A Festival Built Around Food Security and Local Sourcing
FoodX is the centerpiece of the first-ever Sierra Foothills Food Festival, a three-day event running Thursday, September 24, through Saturday, September 26. The festival opens Thursday with Food for Thought, a community panel on local food security featuring leaders from the Food Bank of Nevada County, Interfaith Food Ministry, Community Roots and Gold Country Senior Services, according to BriarPatch Food Co-op.
Friday brings Sierra Harvest's Food Fight, a tasting event held the day before FoodX at the Castello Vista estate in Grass Valley, where up to 10 top regional chefs compete in a culinary challenge using bites that are 100% locally sourced, for attendee votes, per YubaNet's account of the fundraiser. Sierra Harvest, which co-hosts the festival, also runs a Farm to School program reaching more than 5,000 students across 16 schools in Western Nevada County through school gardens, classroom tastings and educational farm trips, according to reporting from See Jane Do. Sierra Commons and Sierra Harvest hope to repeat the Sierra Foothills Food Festival every year, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Why Nevada County Is Betting on Homegrown Food
The push to build up local food entrepreneurs comes against a striking backdrop: Nevada County's agricultural economy reached a record gross production value of $28.5 million in 2024, excluding cannabis, a 17% increase over 2023, with livestock products accounting for half of that total agricultural value, according to figures reported by YubaNet. Yet less than 4% of the total annual value of food consumed by Nevada County residents is produced locally within the county, according to regional food policy assessments reported by county officials. That gap helps explain the urgency behind building out foothill food supply chains, and it's part of why Sierra Commons' Food Entrepreneur Accelerator and the FoodX event itself receive support from California Jobs First, a state fund created to foster sustainable and equitable regional economic development, according to Sierra Commons.
Chef Demos, a Beekeeper and a Distribution Veteran on the Bill
Educational programming will run throughout the day, including a Food Foundry session featuring Michael Funk, co-founder of United Natural Foods, Inc., one of the nation's largest organic and natural food distributors, per Sierra Commons. Spencer Wingfield, a second-generation beekeeper at Wingfield Honey Co., will also speak, discussing honeybees, healthy hives, healthy soil and the food people eat, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Chef demonstrations will feature Alan Goskar, executive chef at Lola at the National Exchange Hotel; Jennifer Vanatta, head chef at Petra Modern Mediterranean; and Alexeis Filipello, a chef at Rasa Kitchen who blends gourmet culinary arts with ayurvedic nutrition, per the same report. Live music from Dowd Records acts including Beautiful Dudes, the Brett Shady Band and Beach Noise will accompany a Wine Down segment starting at 4 p.m., which will include food trucks and live musical acts.
Tickets, Hours and Venue Details
FoodX runs from noon to 6:30 p.m. on September 26 at the Miners Foundry Cultural Center, 325 Spring St. in Nevada City, a venue dating back to 1859 during the city's Gold Rush industrial era with a capacity of up to 650 people, according to the Miners Foundry Cultural Center. VIP ticket holders get early access starting at 11:30 a.m., along with entry to the Nevada City Winery VIP lounge and a tote bag containing product samples and a preview copy of the Rural Food Ecosystem Playbook. VIP tickets cost $125, early bird general admission runs $45, and children under 12 can attend for free, per the Sacramento Bee's reporting.
