The 5th Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival (March 25-28) in Petaluma might not offer 400 Cheeses as New Zealand's Monteih's Cheese Fest does.
14 West Coast cheesemakers (plus 1 from Utah) will be present:
Beehive Cheese Co., Uintah, UT
Bellwether Farms
Central Coast Creamery
Cowgirl Creamery
Cypress Grove Chevre
Fiscalini Farmstead Cheese
Laura Chenel's Chevre
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co.
Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery
Nicasio Valley Cheese Co.
Sierra Nevada Cheese Co.
Tumalo Farms, Bend, OR
Willapa Hills Farmstead Cheese, Doty, WA
On Saturday evening (March 26) they play matchmakers with Curds, Cooks & Cuvées pairing chefs and vintners with seven California artisan cheesemakers. There are 2 sessions, one from 6 to 7:30 PM, other from 8:00 to 9:30 PM.
Seminars cover topics from Transhumance: A Seasonal Migration to Curd Stretching. On lighter side Grilled Cheese by Laura Werlin, a sneak peak at her book Grilled Cheese Please (Andrews McMeel Publishing, March 8).
You will have a chance to meet a number of other cheese authors including Janet Fletcher, Mary Karlin, and blogger Kirstin Jackson of It's not you, it's brie who recently writes about cheese in a can!?
The Full Schedule indicates that some choices like Farm Tours are already sold out.
If I found my way to Petaluma Sheraton where event takes place, I would make sure to taste Creme Fraiche and Sheep Milk Yogurts from Bellwether Farms (Sonoma).