The annual Tractors & Truffles is Saturday. In this file phot, guests view an ice sculpture that was prepared for dinner.
The day-long dining, touring and arts event Tractors & Truffles presents the best of agriculture and elegance tomorrow.
The seventh annual city-sponsored Tractors & Truffles includes farm, ranch, vineyard and distillery tours as well as wine and beer tastings, farm-fresh food and a music performance by the T Sisters.
“There’s a juxtaposition,” said Jane Moon, director of Tourism & Special Events for the Fallon Convention & Tourism Authority. “Here’s this community that’s agriculture-based, and we can really support our farm-to-table movement. There’s also the mix-in of art and the area in general. People are just so interested in Fallon being ‘the Oasis of Nevada.’ And the event really does bring the best of Fallon, and our welcoming nature, to the table.”
The menu boasts offerings from local Slanted Porch owner and chef, Steve Hernandez, as well as chef and ice sculptor Mark Davis, chef director of the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco, and other nationally-known chefs.
The T Sisters are a San Francisco bay-area band of three childhood friends and longtime performers as well as an upright bassist, guitar and mandolin player, and drummer. Their sound ranges from traditional pop to harmonizing a cappella to energetic folk.
Receiving rave festival reviews, SF Weekly called them one of 16 artists to watch in 2016 and said who knew “you could achieve Zen through folk music.” They released their debut album in 2014 followed by an EP and will release a new album in October.
Saturday, they’ll give an informal music workshop — free and open to the public — at 3 p.m. in the Oats Park Art Center Bar.
Highlighting the day is a gourmet, farm-to-plate dinner with wine pairings. The dinner served at Oats Park Art Center’s courtyard will include locally grown beef, chicken, lamb, produce and wine from Northern Nevada farms. A beer tasting with specialty brews from The Great Basin Brewing Company precedes the meal. The T Sisters will perform afterward in the center’s Barkley Theatre.
Saturday kicks off with a light breakfast and tour of Rambling River Ranch, one of the valley’s establishing ranches. There will be a stop at Lattin Farms’ roadside fruit and vegetable stand as well as a tour of Churchill Vineyards and Frey Ranch Estate Distillery, Nevada’s only estate distillery.
There will be tastings and hors d‘oeuvres with items from Debbie Nelson, owner of the Courtyard Café.
“We’ve had the privilege of being part of Tractors & Truffles since the beginning,” said Ashley Frey, co-owner and operator of Churchill Vineyards and Frey Ranch Estate Distillery with her husband, Colby. “Each year, the event gets better and better. This year, Frey Ranch Distillery is excited to pour — for the very first time — our brand new Barrel Finished Gin and Absinthe, in addition to our Churchill Vineyards wines and award-winning Frey Ranch spirits.”
Event tickets are $125. Call 775-423-4556.
Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert only are available from the Churchill Arts Council (CAC) at 775-423-1440. The cost is $17 for CAC members and $20 for non-members. Touring guests also contact them for concert seating.
Shuttle buses leave the center at 9:45 a.m. and guests are welcome to carpool. There will be free time before dinner.
Learn more at www.TractorsAndTruffles.com including access to chef bios, the menu, recipes and a map.
Moon said this year the event has a guest celebrating her 71st birthday and will be accompanied with a dozen friends from New York, Sacramento and closer.
“You can use it as a celebratory event in place of something else,” Moon said. “You don’t have to do anything; the scheduling is already in place to make it something special.”