Portage Regional Economic Development is urging you to buy local. Event coordinator, Tracey Wood explains the Big Dig event held Thursday was a great way to bring people of Portage together to enjoy locally sourced food.

"The Big Dig was all about bringing community together, community engagement. It was also our launch to the "Our Big Table" tourism initiative that we are launching at PRED. It was excellent. The crowd was large and lots of fun was had by all with the cinnamon bun making workshop. Dinner was fabulous so I think everybody had a really great time.

Wood notes PRED's main goal for the event was to show guests that it's easy and beneficial to support local producers when putting dinner on the table.

"This is all about getting to know your producer, getting to know your food. "Where does your food come from?". Support local, shop at home. Another part of this initiative is we also really want to to draw people from outside of the Portage region and bring them to Portage. Bring them out into the country, enjoy the scenery and get to know our area because it's a really great area to live in."

Wood says once locals are able to appreciate the abundance of quality food available in the area, it can translate to Portage becoming a tourist destination for quality food.