Oregon Cheese Festival celebrates state's cheese diversity

Central Point, Ore. — If you thought cheese is just a typical food item your palette has gotten used to, think again. The yearly Oregon Cheese Festival in Central Point challenges the status quo with many different textures and flavors of cheese.

With flavors from cumin garlic to lavender, and pesto to apricot hazel nearly 4,000 people gathered at the Rogue Creamery Saturday faced with nearly 150 samples to choose from.

For the past 12 years the Oregon Cheese Festival has attracted the masses to Central Point where as many as 20 cheese makers armed with toothpicks proudly offer their creations. Their samples are a work of art. Some of the cheese takes six to nine months to make, but is gobbled up in seconds.

For those promoting their specialty cheeses and the thousands who attended the festival, it’s nothing short of a celebration of the diversity of Oregon cheeses.