The Ramps and Rails Festival

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Ramps and Rails festival in Elkins with my family. It was a cold and rainy day, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying many, many different ramp-based dishes. I made it a goal to sample as many of the different food options as I could, and I think I managed to try almost everything. The foods we ate at the festival are as follows: ramp empanadas with ramp chimichurri sauce, ramp burgers, ramp cheese fries, ramp rangoons, ramp potato cakes, ramp dumplings, ramp croissants, and ramp focaccia bread.

Everything was good, but my personal favorite was the focaccia bread! It was so light and fluffy, and the garlicky flavor from the ramps was a nice touch. It was served with a fresh and creamy ramp butter. Focaccia has always been one of my favorites, but adding ramps to it really “ramped” it up a bit, and made it perfect. The only thing we didn’t get to try that day was the ramp-eroni rolls, since they sold out within the first hour of the festival. However, the woman in charge of the stand was so kind, and offered to meet my dad in Clarksburg the following weekend with a fresh batch of them! So, we ended up getting some anyway, and of course, they were delicious. They had the perfect pepperoni-to-ramp ratio, so they were just the right amount of garlicky and spicy. I could tell these were fresh-baked, as the bread was fluffy and fresh. These are absolutely worth the hype, and you should try one if you get the chance!

Other than food vendors, this festival also features live music, crafts, and train rides. While waiting in the very long line to get our ramp burgers, we listened to a live music performance from Crandall Creek, a local folk band. Live music is one of my favorite things when attending any festival, so this was something that I really enjoyed!