MIDDLEBURY — On Sunday, June 23, FOODAROO 5 comes to Middlebury’s Historic Marble Works District overlooking the falls from 4-9 p.m. Produced by Middlebury Underground (MUD) for the fifth year, this annual event is a family-friendly festival that celebrates Vermont’s culinary artisans and beverage makers, with an emphasis on Addison and Chittenden County vendors and farms. From food trucks to brick-and-mortar operations, FOODAROO is dedicated to showcasing creative, farm fresh cuisine. 
Attendees taste their way through the festival while enjoying leading local bands, internationally acclaimed street performers, kids’ activities, a fortuneteller, baking competitions and much more.  Cover $5. Kids 12 and under admitted free. Food and beverages for everyone are available for purchase.  Foodaroo is proud to donate a portion of proceeds to the United Way of Addison County.
TASTE VERMONT
FOODAROO 5 features both all-time festival favorites, as well as newcomers, providing a delicious taste of the farm-to-table lifestyle that is a hallmark of our state. Food and beverage vendors include: Evolution Kitchen featuring Arcadian and Haymaker; Farmers and Foragers; ArtsRiot (burger pictured, right, by Joy Featherwind Photography); American Flatbread; Cadja Madera; Ahli Babba’s Kabob; Café Tourterelle Mobile Gourmet; Fork in the Road; Taco Truck All Stars; BTV Ethiopian; Luiza’s Homemade with Love; Thai @ Home; Vermont Soup Company; Broccoli Bar; Aromatica; LuLu; Sisters of Anarchy; Carrier Coffee + Doughnuts; Local Source; Lulu Pouf; Joy Ride Pops; Bridge School Cupcakery; Juice Amour; Savoure Soda; Stone Leaf Teahouse; Aqua ViTea Kombucha, and more.
NEW THIS YEAR: OUTDOOR BEVERAGE TASTING TENT
An outdoor adult beverage garden will feature samples from Stonecutter Spirits, Woodchuck Cider, Aqua ViTea Spirits, Halyard Brewing, and Appalachian Gap. At three bars, American Flatbread will offer full pours of beer, wine, hard cider and custom Foodaroo cocktails featuring all of our sampling vendors plus WhistlePig Whiskey.
5 LIVE ACTS 
FOODAROO is about food and performance that exhilarates and engages all ages. This year’s festival is proud to welcome two internationally acclaimed street performance acts: Alakazam the Human Knot, a comedic contortionist who performs daredevil feats, and Her Majesty’s Secret Circus (pictured, right, by Alexis Dubus), secret agents on a mission who use their extremely high IQs, plunger arrows and a huge stealth unicycle to save the day. 
Foodaroo 5 also features three live music performances: Josh Panda presents British Isles, an indie-rock trio combining influences of 70’s guitar riffs and 80’s synth pop; Ernest, the new solo moniker of MUHS grad Mark Daly, formerly of Madaila and Chamberlin, debuting his new double album “I’m Gonna Do It (Anyway);” and Shake, an all-around get-down band with a modern twist on rhythm and blues. All emceed by WVTK’s Bruce Zeman of Bruce and Hobbes.
BAKING CONTESTS, CLASSES AND MORE
FOODAROO 5 will host two King Arthur Flour Baking Competitions for adults and kids, featuring the theme ingredient Vermont maple syrup. For contest rules, prizes and to enter,  visit: middunderground.org/kingarthur. Other interactive activities include a Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op kids’ cooking class, a fortuneteller, and games and activities that will delight children and adults alike.
For more information, contact Lisa Mitchell at (802) 388-6124, email [email protected] or visit  foodaroo.org. 
MARK DALY DEBUTS DOUBLE ALBUM AT FOODAROO
FOODAROO 5 will debut Mark Daly’s new solo act and double album, “I’m Gonna Do It (Anyway),” under his new moniker “Ernest.” Mark Ernest Daly (a 2004 grad of Middlebury Union High School where he studied under Music teacher Anne Severy) gained critical acclaim and a following as the leader of the bands Madaila and Chamberlin.
Over the past two years, Daly has seen quite a bit of change, igniting the most prolific writing period of his life in an attempt to capture all these wild experiences as they happen. From becoming a husband and father, to his band Madaila going on hiatus, it has been both equally beautiful and challenging. Amidst a life and career crossroads and a reevaluation of the self… it all comes pouring out in his new solo debut, a double LP called “I’m Gonna Do It (Anyway).” The record is released just two days before Foodaroo, on Friday, June 21.
Ernest will play an album release show on Saturday, June 22, at Light Club Lamp Shop at 8 p.m. in Burlington. Daly will then play a hometown show at Foodaroo 5, on Sunday, June 23, at 6 p.m.
“After all these years, from childhood until now, playing in so many different spots and with all my different bands and collaborations, coming back to Middlebury to play this brand new album, which is the most important and personal piece of music I’ve ever created, on the weekend of its release, is nothing short of amazing,” Daly reflected. 
Follow Ernest @ernest4eva.