Special to the
Opelika Observer
The quintessential spring culinary celebration, Sip & Savor Spring, will be taking place once again at Callaway Resort & Gardens March 28-31. Located just under an hour from Opelika, it’s worth the short drive to see where spring begins. All tickets include day admissions to the garden. See Callaway’s world-famous azalea gardens, showcasing a dazzling display of native and cultivated azalea varieties, with more than 20,000 azaleas – plus fresh blooms of dogwoods, crabapples, daffodils and tulips.
NEW this year: An outstanding value and a way to see Callaway for the Day:
• March 30 – S3 Day Pass for $99 includes the following tickets: Waffle House Showdown, Tastings Under the Big Top and Callaway Resort & Gardens Admission for the day.
Tastings Under the Big Top: All-inclusive food and drink ticket with souvenir glass and more than 300 varieties of beverages, 15-plus restaurants and BBQ Alley with some of the South’s leading pitmasters and chefs including: Bryan Furman, B’s Cracklin’ BBQ, Atlanta, GA; Grand Champion BBQ, Atlanta, GA; One Hot Mama’s, Orchid Paulmeier and more. The Sparkling Garden features a variety of sparkling beverages in the gardens and live music with the soulful sounds from Laiken Love and Fellowship of Love Band from Savannah, Georgia.
The four-day final schedule includes.
• March 28 – The James Beard Foundation Celebrity Chef Tour Dinner at The Lodge and Spa Conference Center will begin at 6 p.m., with limited tickets still available. Celebrity guest chefs for the dinner include: Maneet Chauhan, Nashville, Tennessee, restaurateur, chef/author and television personality; James Beard Foundation award-winning chefs, Steven Satterfield, Miller-Union, Atlanta and Rodney Scott, Rodney Scott’s BBQ, Charleston, South Carolina and James Beard Foundation nominee Rob McDaniel, SpringHouse, Alexander City.
• March 29 – The Bloom Master Class Series, located at The Gardens Restaurant and the Overlook Azalea Garden, will include:
- “Entertaining Napa Valley Style” with Suzanne Phifer Pavitt, Proprietor, Phifer Pavitt Wine and Michael Sullivan, Master Butcher, American Butcher, Birmingham.
- “Biscuits and Bundts” with Brian Hart Hoffman, Editor-in-Chief, Bake from Scratch Magazine and President/Chief Creative Officer of Hoffman Media, Birmingham.
- “Big Green Egg, Al Fresco in the Overlook Azalea Garden” with Brandon Carter, Executive Chef/Owner, FARM Bluffton and Kevin Ryan, Service Brewing, Savannah.
• March 29 – Sip & Savor on the Lake, 7 to 9 p.m. An interactive culinary and beverage event with souvenir glass, featuring tastings on the water under the Ski Pavilion. Join in the fun with live music along with some well-known Southern celebrity guests and local chefs. This event will also feature a live auction to benefit the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation.
• March 30 – Waffle House Showdown, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Chefs competing include: David Carrier, Certified Burgers & Beverage, St. Simons Island, Georgia; Orchid Paulmeier, One Hot Mama’s, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Jennifer Booker, Chef/Author, Atlanta, Georgia; Clayton Rollison, Lucky Rooster Kitchen + Bar, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
• March 30 – Tastings Under the Big Top, 2 to 5 p.m., Florida State University (FSU) High Flying Circus Tent. This is the main event with music, food and beverages featuring hundreds of beverage tastings, culinary bites from local restaurants and chefs from around the southeast. Enjoy celebrity chef demonstrations, cookbook authors, and other interactive show-casings. In addition, some of Georgia’s best homegrown products will be available in the Georgia Grown Market, along with gourmet foods and crafts.
• March 31 – Longleaf Brunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Celebrate spring flora and fauna lakeside, at the beautiful Gardens Restaurant. The brunch will offer a scrumptious showcase by the Callaway Resort & Gardens culinary team. An all you can eat and drink culinary buffet with champagne and Bloody Mary bars, wine, beer and spirits tastings.
Callaway Resort & Gardens, a public, educational, horticultural and charitable organization, is owned and operated by the nonprofit Ida Cason Callaway Foundation.
Several of the Sip & Savor Spring events and 100 percent of the live and silent auction proceeds from the festival will benefit the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, a nonprofit 501-(c)3 organization.
Callaway Gardens is made possible by the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, which relies on membership, donations and support of its programs, events and fundraising activities to sustain. Foundation donations made possible by Sip and Savor Spring will specifically support the Overlook Gardens Restoration project.
The annual Sip & Savor Spring is the resort’s signature, culinary event during Celebrate Spring! The most up-to-date festival information is available on the website at www.sipandsavorspring.com/about.html; Twitter – www.twitter.com/sipsavorspring; Facebook – www.facebook.com/SipandSavorSpring and Instagram at www.instagram.com/sipsavorspring/.