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The chowder and soup competition will be held Oct. 12 from noon to 4 p.m. Chowdafest organizer Jim Keenan said the new space will better accommodate crowds for the ever-growing competition.
"The reason we're moving from Bridgeport and the Webster Bank Arena is principally because we outgrew it. Last year, we reached capacity in 30 minutes, and we were told we couldn't have any more in after that. And we stranded a lot of food lovers. So we don't want to do that," Keenan said.
The event's organizers searched for several months to find the right location, Keenan said. With a fall date this year instead a winter date, it should make for better weather, as well as allow seasonal restaurants to participate, he said.
"We really like that we're bringing Chowdafest to the seafaring city of Norwalk. How idyllic is that?" Keenan said. "We are considering Norwalk as the chowder capital of Connecticut, because six of our 12 winners were from Norwalk, and now of course Norwalk is hosting our event."
This year's competition will feature 36 restaurants from all over the state competing in four categories: New England Clam, Traditional Chowder, Creative Chowders and Soup/Bisque.
There will also be an expansion of last year's "Cia de fest" section for Italian food, as well as a Chowda Mex area where visitors will be able to sample chips and salsa.
"While the focus still remains on restaurants and the soups and the bisques and the chowders, we sort of rounded out the experience so you get a lot of other cool foodie-type things," Keenan said.
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