Armstrong Spallumcheen Chamber of Commerce

Festivals › The Big Cheese

The Big Cheese

Late March

A multi-day food and beverage festival each early spring, celebrating Armstrong's culinary community.

See The Big Cheese 2027

The Big Cheese is the chamber’s flagship food and beverage festival. It brings producers, processors, chefs, buyers, and food lovers together in downtown Armstrong for a weekend of tastings, competitions, and community. The festival happens in early spring and has run since 2013.

The festival showcases the craftsmanship and regional pride that define our local food culture. Expect public tastings, culinary competitions, hands-on workshops, and live programming throughout the festival footprint.

Attendance

The Big Cheese generally draws about 3,000 people across the festival week.

Follow the festival

Coming up

Previous years

  • The Big Cheese 2026 · The 2026 Big Cheese week featured cheese-themed workshops, a month-long grilled cheese restaurant competition, the Public Market at Hassen Arena on March 28, and a sold-out Ambassador's Dinner.
  • The Big Cheese 2025 · The 2025 Big Cheese ran Saturday, April 12 at Hassen Arena, with the market, music, food, workshops, and the Ambassador's Dinner.
  • The Big Cheese 2024 · The 2024 Big Cheese local food festival ran Saturday, April 6 at Hassen Arena, with tastings, pairings, Cheese 101 seminars, grilled cheese and cheeseball competitions, and 11 cheese makers.
  • The Big Cheese 2023 · The 10th annual Big Cheese ran April 14 and 15, 2023 at Hassen Arena, with the public Local Food Festival, an industry Food and Buyer Expo, the seven-course Ambassador's Dinner, and the grilled cheese and cheeseball contest.