2008 Ninth Annual Brunswick Stew Festival
17th Street Farmers’ Market | Richmond, Virginia
For the 2008 Brunswick Stew Festival, I did more of an illustrated “comic” piece as the main imagery for this event. A certain fast food chain had recently garnered popularity with its black & white cows campaigning to “EAT MOR CHIKIN,” so I thought about the chicken’s perspective in all of this, since chicken is also the staple ingredient of Brunswick Stew. Putting a humorous spin on barnyard banter, I created a conversation surrounding a “Chicken Protection Program” being instated since the Brunswick Stew Festival was upon us and came up with an adorable chicken parading around the pasture as a cow. I really loved working not only the pre-design aspect for the festival, but getting to coordinate and work the festival itself, as “Stew Masters” are a big deal and vying for top honors is an all day affair. The Stew Masters arrive early in the morning before the sun comes up on a cold fall day, and cook their delicious, secret recipe stews all day long until it’s time to sell samples to the masses during festival hours. All of the stews are then judged based on local celebrities and/or culinary judges for top Stew Master honors and a trophy, while the people get to vote on the “People’s Choice” Stew winner. Once the samples are tasted and judged, stew masters can also sell their stews in bowls or to go. While the stews are usually the main draw for this festival, everyone benefits: local businesses, the community, and most of all, the vendors who attend and sell wares and goods alongside the stew masters. It’s just a happy, feel-good festival and I had hoped to capture that sense of fun in the design itself.
Poster, Flyers and Ad
Click on the images to view PDFs
