ALBEMARLE — Farm-to-Table met stoplights and asphalt Saturday night as about 110 people dined in the middle of the street in downtown Albemarle. Dinner on Main is now an annual event that brings together the Stanly County community around a single table to share a meal.
In this year’s iteration, proceeds from the event will benefit the Friends of Agri-Civic Center. Event co-founder and caterer, Tiffany Dahle, prepared most of the family-style, four-course meal.
The dinner was supported by local businesses and farmers and featured Stanly County and regional food and drink. The event began with a cocktail hour with drinks from Cabarrus Brewing’s beers and several local wineries, including Stony Mountain Vineyards, Dennis Vineyards, Uwharrie Vineyards and Rocky River Vineyards.
A buffet of hors d’oeuvres included deviled eggs, homemade kale and collard chips, smoked pork belly and cheese from Anson County’s Brown Creek Creamery. The salad course and main course were served family style and gave guests the opportunity to sample a variety of offerings and connect with each other as they passed the plates.
“The biggest challenge of the entire event is serving the food family style,” said Dahle. “You put it on the platters and hope that everyone passes them properly.”
The dessert course was provided by the Albemarle Sweet Shop and included mixed berries with sweet cream and butter cookie crumble and strawberry custard.
Dinner on Main is billed as a farmer-friendly, farm-to-table event and, according to Dahle, it lives up to the promise.
“It’s great for our local farmer to be showcased,” said Dahle, who owns Tiffany’s Catering and Events with her husband Jeff.
The couple have operated their catering business for three years in downtown Albemarle, but Tiffany Dahle says her 18 years of experience in the food service industry have given her a lot of ideas for future events that showcase what makes Stanly County unique. She hopes to do more community engagement events while continuing to grow her business in Stanly County and the surrounding counties of Anson, Cabarrus, Rowan and Montgomery.
The major takeaway from the event for Dahle is new friendships and connections.
“A lot of people told me that they met new people and made new friends because of the format of this event — it definitely has a community feel.”