Beloved by cheese lovers and purveyors across the state and region, the Oregon Cheese Festival is making its return to the Jackson County Expo this weekend with vendors to explore and cheese to try out. 

“I think all of the good things people have come to expect will be at the cheese festival; we have an incredible lineup of vendors and it gets better and better every year,” said Katie Bray, executive director of the Oregon Cheese Guild, the organization putting on the festival. “It’s like a cheese-stravaganza.”

The Expo will be filled with vendors offering samples and selling a wide range of cheeses and cheese-adjacent goods such as alcohol, hot sauce, crackers, chocolate and more for visitors to peruse. 

The Oregon Cheese Festival is scheduled for noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 26, for visitors ages 21 and over and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 27, open to all ages. 

The festival also includes the Cheesemaker Dinner — scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 25, at the Ashland Springs Hotel — featuring an array of hand-crafted cheeses from across Oregon as well as adult beverages from a variety of producers. 

Tickets for the Cheesemaker Dinner are $110 per person. 

Festival tickets for April 26-27 are $25 for Saturday and $15 for Sunday; options for two-day passes, VIP packages and more are also available. 

All tickets can be purchased at oregoncheesefestival.com. 

“The big change we’re making this year in terms of format is while the rest of the world is living with inflation, we’ve actually lowered our price for a base ticket Sunday,” Bray said. “It was $25 for a base ticket last year.” 

This year’s festival vendor list includes around 100 purveyors, including Briar Rose Creamery, Mama Terra Micro Creamery, Rogue Creamery, Beehive Cheese, Zwan Art LLC, Amy’s Beehives, Black Market Toffee, Rose City Pepperheads, The English Lavender Farm, Whimsy Chocolates, Crater Lake Spirits, Naumes Suncrest Winery and Woolridge Creek Winery.

“It’s a lot more Oregon-centric this year, and that speaks to the audience this year,” Bray said. “They love to support their local food producers; with so many of these people, it’s their only chance each year to buy direct from people growing and making these delicious things.”

“We try every year to improve what folks are going to get to see and taste when it comes to the festival,” she added. 

While the festival is cheese-based, Bray and others put effort into finding adjacent vendors that create products to pair perfectly with it. 

“It’s all about balance and presenting the best mix of things for people to taste when they come, and we always sell out winery spots, spirits spots and another crowded category is hot sauce,” she said. “One of the things I pride myself on as an organizer of this festival is the rate of return we get from our vendors; they are vendors who come to the festival and love it and love directly interacting with people.”

The Oregon Cheese Festival unofficially began in 2005 at the Rogue Creamery Parking lot in Central Point and was originally conceived by David Gremmels, president of the creamery. 

Growing over the years, the festival began being managed by the Oregon Cheese Guild in 2018 and has expanded into a two-day experience with thousands visiting and taking part. 

“The guild itself was established in 2006; our organization will be celebrating our 20-year anniversary next year, which is really exciting,” Bray said. 

The festival moved to the Jackson County Expo in 2024 for the first time. 

To learn more about the Oregon Cheese Festival, visit oregoncheesefestival.com.

Reach reporter James Sloan at james.sloan@rv-times.com.