Italian Dinner Features Farmers Market's Finest

Marisa Tobias couldn’t have asked for better weather Friday evening as a sellout crowd settled into the Alfresco Italian Garden Dinner on the grounds of the .

Tobias, president of the Fern Hollow Nature Center board of directors, said the idea for the benefit dinner for the Sewickley Heights center was a joint effort by many volunteers and vendors from Farmers Market who donated food items to make the dinner a success.

“We’d like to thank the people for being so incredibly generous with their donations,” Tobias said. “We are so grateful to the farmers but are also appreciative to let people know there is an abundance of such wonderful locally grown food right here.”

Prior to dinner, attendees greeted one another and roamed the nature center grounds, enjoying wine and appetizers such as bruschetta with white hummus and roasted red pepper.

Volunteers busied themselves in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on a dinner filled with garden and homemade ingredients.

“We started preparing for the dinner on Monday and I don’t know what I would’ve done without two volunteers, Rhonda Schuldt and Linda Petley, who have been so helpful through all of this,” Tobias said.

The dinner had a special meaning for Ron and Rosemary Stidmon of Darlington Township. The Stidmons are garlic farmers, of Enon Valley Garlic Farms, and have a stand at St. James Farmers Market every weekend.

“Being here just makes us feel more a part of the community just as being a vendor at the market does,” Ron Stidmon said.

Rosemary Stidmon agreed, “We have formed friendships at the market and this is another way to do the same and to give back.”

Their donation of garlic and a special “four thieves” vinegar seasoned the fresh-cut green beans.

Other vendors donating to the dinner included McElhaney’s Farm, Mediterra Bakehouse, Dillner Family Farm and Combs Farms.

As attendees dined on meatballs in roasted tomato sauce, pasta primavera, grilled eggplant with roasted tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese and other mouthwatering dishes, they deemed the first Alfresco Italian Garden Dinner at the nature center a success.

Proceeds from the dinner will go to the programs at Fern Hollow Nature Center to teach children about how food is grown and where it comes from.