Taste of Homer festival runs through Sept. 7
Taste of Homer festival runs through Sept. 7
Published 5:30 pm Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Homer’s annual celebration of its local food scene is underway with a new late-summer schedule, expanded events and a greater emphasis on ingredients grown and produced in the area.
Taste of Homer began Aug. 28 and continues through Sept. 7, bringing restaurant specials, tastings and food focused activities to businesses around the community.
Organizers moved the event from its recent late-May slot to the end of summer in part to take advantage of what is available from local growers and producers, Homer Chamber of Commerce Events Coordinator Lindsay Trieweiler said.
“Late summer gives us a much better opportunity to highlight Homer’s growers and producers and encourage participating restaurants to incorporate locally grown, harvested and produced ingredients into what they’re serving,” she said.
Beyond changing the dates, the chamber expanded Taste of Homer this year to include more experiences outside of traditional restaurant dining.
New additions include a chef’s dining experience at The Kannery, Sip & Shuttle with the Homer KOA, a guided Taste Of Homer tour, a crossover with Homer’s First Friday events and dinner and a movie at the Porcupine Theater.
Each activity was designed to give residents and visitors another way to explore local businesses, Trieweiler said. The First Friday crossover, for example, pairs Homer’s art scene with participating restaurants so people can visit galleries and sample food during the same outing.
“We wanted to find creative ways for people to ‘taste Homer’ outside of a traditional dining experience,” she said.
Another centerpiece of the festival is the Taste of Homer Passport, which returned this year in an expanded format.
Participants can collect stamps by visiting participating businesses or attending festival events, Passports also serve as a guide to activities happening throughout Taste of Homer, giving people one place to see what is available.
Anyone who collects at least five stamps can return their passport to the Homer Chamber of Commerce by Sept. 9 for entry into a grand prize drawing. The prize includes transportation with Coldwater Taxi and a chef’s dinner for two at The Meandering Goat across Kachemak Bay.
According to Trieweiler, the passport is intended to encourage people to try businesses they may not have visited before while taking part in more of the festival. Several local lodging properties are also offering discount codes during the festival, part of an effort to attract visitors who might stay overnight rather than make a single trip for a meal. Special events still to come include the Taste of Homer and First Friday crossover Sept. 4 and the Food Truck Fling from 11 a.m. to 8p.m. Sept. 5 at Grace Ridge Brewery.
Supporting businesses as the summer tourism season begins to slow is one of the chamber’s broader goals for Taste of Homer.
“One of the Homer Chamber’s missions is to support our members through economic growth and development,” Trieweiler said. “By creating these events, along with an interactive passport and a great grand prize, we hope we’re giving people an extra reason to get out, explore Homer, and spend money with local businesses.”
Looking ahead, the chamber hopes to continue developing Taste of Homer into an event that can draw visitors during a traditionally softer tourism period, fill hotel rooms, and encourage people to spend more time throughout the community.
This year’s expanded format will also serve as something of a test run with organizers planning to gather feedback from businesses and participants before deciding how the festival could grow in future years.
“Our hope is that Taste of Homer can grow into an event that not only celebrates what makes Homer;s food scene special, but also provides a meaningful economic boost to our businesses as the summer season begins to slow down,” Trieweiler said.
More information about participating businesses and events is available through the Homer Chamber of Commerce’s Visit Homer website.