Deer Valley Fire & Flavor Festival draws large and hungry crowd

Deer Valley Resort debuted the Fire & Flavor Festival last weekend at the Silver Lake lawn area, serving all the staples of their outdoor events: live music, good food, beer vendors and a family-friendly atmosphere.

The concept was designed to bring another gathering like the Mountain Beer Festival in September, but at the beginning of summer. This time, instead of centering around beer, the event centered around live-fire cooking.

In addition to the usual food vendors on the lawn, four pop-up kitchens served anything from Thai-spiced chicken wings and lobster fried rice to Kansas City barbecue and whole-roasted meats for $25 food tickets.

The last two meals were prepared by the event’s VIP chefs, Ryan Arensdorf and Sarah Glover, whose previous events at Deer Valley were popular, according to Jacob Musyt, the resort’s vice president of food and beverage.

That proved true on Saturday with lines for the two stretching across the lawn. Glover’s sampler plate — roasted elk and chicken, with an arugula salad, cheese and a flatbread, all made over coals — was sold out by 2 p.m. Arensdorf’s Kc Que food truck was set up serving brisket, burnt ends, pulled pork and spare ribs, and he’d run out of ribs, then brisket, by around the same time.

“It’s been crazy,” Glover said while slicing up her last elk haunch. Coming off the back of a five-day pop-up for the Oakley Rodeo with Ballerina Farm, Glover said it’s been a busy time, but she was happy to be back up at Deer Valley.

Many attendees said they’d been looking forward to the event, especially to sample the talented chefs. Patrice and Eric Ratinoff, part-time residents who also live in Sacramento, had bought tickets with some friends for the VIP dinner Friday night with Arensdorf.

“The dinner last night was fun, and the food was fantastic. It was the four of us, and then we were at a table with strangers, and everybody was so friendly. It was really nice,” the two said.

They said the food that night was so good, they wanted to come back for more. Ordering a barbecue sampler meal from the Arensdorf truck, they shouted a thanks to the chef for such a great meal.

“Barbecue, food, fire, beer, sunshine — we love it here,” said Eric about their decision to swing by the festival Saturday.

Patrice added that their condo is walking distance from the lawn.

“It’s just nice. I worked out this morning, our daughter and I went on a hike and they were setting up. So we just wanted to come check it out.”

The free event also drew a casual, spontaneous crowd, such as a family visiting from Florida who stopped by for lunch after their morning hike. Sprinkled throughout, mountain bike helmets pushed up to foreheads and tucked under arms were evidence of bikers on a break from their day’s ride.

As expected, the family-friendly event brought families out to enjoy the perfect summer day. Kids played lawn games and licked ice cream cones from the Deer Valley Creamery cart.

It was double the crowd they’d expected, said Josh Hockman, the resort’s director of beverage. He’d coordinated five beer vendors to attend — T. F. Brewing, Chappell Brewing, Moab Brewery, Roosters Brewing Co., and Proper Brewing Co. — all selling a selection of their beers for $12 tokens.

Hockman said he loves having local breweries out to highlight the creative beers coming out of Utah.

“Right now we’re starting some barrel-aged series called The D bag series,” said the Chappell Brewing spokesperson. “We just pulled out a miso sour that we aged in sake barrels for a year. There’s an imperial white stout that’s 12% that’s sitting in Madeira barrels that we imported from Portugal. Our War Pig, which is a Northwest dark Cascadian ale, we’re aging in bourbon barrels.”

He said participating in festivals like the Fire & Flavor Festival is always a great way to meet new customers.

“They’re so relaxed, laid back. You get a lot of exposure, a lot of new people that have never tried the brand before. So it’s really interesting, especially some local people up here in Park City,” he said.

T.F. Brewing spokesmen Greg Schoenwolf, aka “Wolf,” and Emmet Templin were pouring three of the brand’s more popular beers. They said that getting paid to spend a summer day up in the mountains, instead of enduring the nearly 100-degree heat in Salt Lake City, was a no-brainer.

Musyt said the hope is that this Fire & Flavor Festival can become another staple summer event at the resort. Next up, they’re bringing even more energy to their fourth-annual Mountain Beer Festival, scheduled for Sept. 13-14. Tickets can be purchased at deervalley.com/things-to-do/activities/mountain-beer-festival.