Call it Brew and BBQ. Call it Frontier Festival. The 2019 Cedar Point summer festival is back for the fifth consecutive season and offers a new experience for guests as they wonder into town to step up against Maverick and Steel Vengeance.

Located in Frontier Town, the entire area will be themed to a sunflower-inspired old west street festival. While the very popular Brew & BBQ style elements will still be present in smaller form, the Frontier Festival is meant to cast a wider net of appeal to families when the event runs daily June 7-30, 2019 starting at 4:00 pm.

Guests will still have access to a selection of beers, ciders and featured lemonades similar to like you saw at the Cedar Point Nights booths last season.

Food and beverage will operate very similar to like they did with Brew & BBQ, via a ticketing system. For $25 (passholders), $28 (everyone else), guests receive 20 tickets redeemable for food and beverage when purchasing online. Ticket purchases of 4, 10, 20 will also be available at the event as follows:

– 20 tickets = $35
– 10 tickets = $25
– 4 tickets = $15

Season passholders and resort guests can purchase tickets as follows:

– 20 tickets = $30
– 10 tickets = $20
– 4 tickets = $10

During the Frontier Festival, expect to see and smell more of the meal prep in front of the guests, featuring live grilling and preparation of dishes.

Guests will see whole hogs and fresh salmon being smoked right on the midway. Further down, you will see large cast iron pots of baked beans, mac and cheese and pulled pork over the grill. Favorites like brisket and chicken wings are also smoked right outside. The smells are an incredible draw to enjoy the experience of Frontier Festival.

Frontier Festival Menu:

This years food lineup will be completely different than previous years of the Brew & BBQ event, so lets dive right in.

Cluck Cluck Shed

– Fire Roasted Chicken Drums with Wild Flower Honey BBQ or Carolina Gold BBQ (1 ticket)

The chicken leg is dry rubbed and then slow grilled on the midway. The smokey flavor is less intense than the smoked wings below.

– Sweet and Sassy Smoked Wings (2 tickets)

This serving includes two chicken wings that are smoked first, then finished off on grills on the midway. The skin is incredibly crispy while offering a stronger smokey taste. We were purists and tried both the above leg and these wings without any sauce.

– Southern Slaw (1 ticket)
– Toasted Sunflower Vinegar Slaw (1 ticket)

When it comes to slaw, we like a really high quality version. We will pass on the cheap KFC style cole slaw; however, you whip up a fresh version and we are sold. You will also see us often have the recommendation of a good quality slaw as a side option.

Both Frontier Festival slaws were terrific. The first thing we noticed was how crisp and fresh the vegetables were. The second thing we noticed was they were not swimming in sauce. Chef Rodger has created two terrific slaws, one mayonnaise based and the other vinegar based.

Smokehouse Shed

– 12-hour Applewood Smoke Brisket with Wild Berry BBQ, Smashed Pork Rind & Spicy Pickle Relish (3 tickets)

The brisket smoked on Cedar Point property routinely gets high ratings among guests. This is one of the few dishes from the Brew & BBQ event that was rolled over to the Frontier Festival. We tended to have mixed reactions to this dish, with some really enjoying it, with ours wishing we had passed. Guests all seemed to agree the Wild Berry BBQ sauce was very good.

– Roasted Pork Belly with Mustard-Peach Marmalade, Pickled Onions, Garlic Toast (1 ticket)

If there was one dish we were most excited to try during the Frontier Festival, it was the pork belly. Ever since falling in love with pork belly at the 2016 Canada’s Wonderland Brew & BBQ, we have been big fans, but it was to be prepared correct.

The Frontier Festival version includes thin slices of pork belly topped with a custom mustard-peach marmalade and served with small garlic toasts.

When we first sampled this dish, we sort of tried everything individually. However, the real enjoyment settled in when we topped a slice of toast with the pork belly and marmalade, and then the flavors really all came together well.

– House Cured Crispy Pickles, Red Onion, Sliced Banana Peppers (1 ticket)

Chef Rodger has hand selected the vegetables and brine to create this subtle accompaniment to the meats.

Chuck Wagon

– Great Plains Bison Chili with Wild Berry Texas Toast (2 tickets)

The chili is made with a lean bison meat, kidney beans, and onions, served on a piece of toasted bread. The overall flavor is very mild with no heat, which will appeal to a wide audience.

– Two Meat BBQ Baked Beans with Roasted Green Chile (1 ticket)

Every year we enjoy how well Cedar Point pulls off their baked beans, and this year is the same. Excellent offering that pairs well with BBQ.

– Loaded Mac & Cheese with Pulled Pork, Bacon (1 ticket)

Bacon and pulled pork are cooked into the mac and cheese. Our kids really enjoy it and ended up ordering it several times.

Stockyard BBQ

– Fire Roasted Suckling Pig with Vinegar BBQ Sauce (3 tickets)

You can read more below on the whole concept and our thoughts of the fresh smoked pork. This option was easily our favorite of the entire festival, and besides the meat being super tender, the vinegar BBQ sauce was outstanding! Like really, really good and went really well with the pork.

New Cedar Point Executive Chef Rodger Martin started at the park only a couple weeks prior to Frontier Festival, so at that time, the menus were finalized. However, Rodger spearheaded creating all the BBQ sauces and made other decisions that we have been pleasantly surprised with for the festival.

– Smoked Whole Salmon with Vinegar Slaw & Corn Tortilla (3 tickets)

Fresh salmon is smoked right on the midway, infusing a subtle smokey flavor into the tender meat. Paired with an excellent fresh slaw and chili dusted corn tortilla chips, the smoked salmon was one of our favorite highlights from Frontier Festival.

– Pulled Pork Slider with Molasses BBQ Sauce (2 tickets)

Under normal circumstances, when parks offer pulled pork as a menu option, specifically for special events, while a great offering with a wide taste appeal, it is something we typically might skip. The reason is it is not necessarily something we can not get elsewhere in the park.

For example, the pulled pork served at BackBeatQue is great!

However, this years Frontier Festival was different because whole hogs are being smoked right on the midway. It does not get any fresher.

As seen above, guests can get the pulled pork with or without a slider bun, and pair it with choice of sauces.

The little brioche bun was EXCELLENT and went perfect with this slider. Even after we walked around taking photos of the food, it was not soggy and perfected held the sandwich together.

We paired it with the house made molasses BBQ sauce, which offered a really nice subtle flavor. Both the pork servings from this stand were easily one of our favorite highlights.

– Bacon White Bean Salad (1 ticket)

The beans offer a nice subtle buttery taste that goes well with the bacon. The dish as a whole is a nice refreshing take on a bean salad option.

Miss Keat’s Sweets

– Wild Strawberry Short Cake with Fresh Berries, Angel Food Cake, Whipped Topping (2 tickets)

– Peaches & Cream with Sweet Cream & Pralines (2 tickets)

– Layered Blueberry Crumb Cake with Fresh Berries, Crumb Cake, Sweet Cream (2 tickets)

The brew element will still be present during this years Frontier Festival, featuring 33 beers, 9 wines and 6 ciders. Samples of alcohol are 1 ticket, full servings are 3 tickets.

Notably missing from this years beer lineup is Cedar Point’s partner, Brew Kettle.

Beer
Brewdog hazy jane IPA
Brewdog Lost Lager
Columbus Bodhi IPA
Harpoon One Hazy Summer
Harpoon UFO Grapefruit Shandy
Market Garden Hellamango IPA
Market Garden Nano og Lager
Market Garden Shandy
Sweet-water 420
Sweet-water IPA
Two Roads Road Jam
Modelo Especial
Sam Adams 76
Truly Wild Berry
21st Amendment Watermelon Wheat
Great Lakes Dortmunder
Great Lakes Holy Moses Raspberry
New Belgium Juicifer IPA
Rhinegeist Cheetah
Rhinegeist Truth
Sierra Nevada Sierraveza
Thisty Dog Blood Orange
Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer Prickly Pear
Elysian Dayglow IPA
Franziskaner Hefeweissbier
Goose Islnd 312 Urban Wheat
Good Island IPA
Kona Big Wave Golden Ale
Michelob Ultra Pure Gold
Platform New Cleveland Palesner
Rochester Mills Put-in-Bay Pilsner
Saugatuck Blueberry Lemondate Shandy
Yuengling Lord Chesterfield Ale
Yuengling Porter

Wines
Butternut Chardonnay
Butternut Pinot Noir
Butternut Rose
Ferrante Raspberry Blanc
Lonz Blackberry
Maize Valley Very Berry
Copa di Vino Cabernet Sauvignon
Ritas Spritz Rose
Ritas Spritz Sangria

Ciders
Down East Aloha Friday Cider
WoodChuck Amber Cider
Angry Orchard Crisp
Angry Orchard Rose
McKenzie’s Black Cherry
McKenzie’s Original

You will see Cedar Point offering special signature drinks this season, like the buzz worthy Buckeye Fizz at Provision on Adventure Island.

Exclusively for Frontier Festival, guests will be able to try a signature Sunflower Spritz, a blend of sweet mango nectar layered with Sprite® and topped with popping mango flavored Boba. Should be an interesting combination of flavors for a refreshing buzz.

In addition, the flavored lemonades from last years Cedar Point Nights event will be brought to Frontier Festival.

Hand-Crafted Lemonade

Lemonades are 1 ticket for a tasting, full servings are 2 tickets. Guests can also add a shot of Moonshine or Tito’s Vodka for 2 (tasting)/4 tickets (full).

Classic lemon
Blueberry
Raspberry
Jalapeno Mint

Live Entertainment and More

Frontier Festival will also be filled with live entertainment ranging from bands to characters roaming the midway. In addition to favorites like the Grand ole’ Pickers, Backwoods Pickers and the Peanuts gang, guests can see Loop Rawlins return, plus many other live performances.

If you love walking through the Frontier shops, just wait until you see all the special exhibitors and live demonstrations that will be featured throughout the event. In addition to local artisans, we are really excited to see the Cedar Creek Mine Ride wall get transformed by Scott Hagan, the Barn Artist!

As mentioned early, with the goal to bring a more family friendly experience to the area, kids will be able to partake in lots of included activities and crafts.

Be sure to leave your comments on the festival and food events you try in the comments below.

References:
2018 Cedar Point Brew & BBQ
2017 Cedar Point Brew & BBQ
2016 Cedar Point Brew & BBQ
2015 Cedar Point Brew & BBQ

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