Le Grand Prix Elmendorf

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The Street Festival

What better way to highlight a bread competition than shutting down our block of Cambridge Street for a full-fledged Parisian-inspired street festival?

The festival will include an eclectic selection of French-inspired food vendors as well as a selection of local artists and vendors. There will be live music and a generally festive atmosphere. The bread competition will be judged right there at the festival.

The Details:

Where: Cambridge Street & 8th Street, East Cambridge

When: Sunday June 8th, 2025, 12pm-4pm. There is no rain date for this event. It will happen rain or shine!

Last year's food vendors included: Formaggio Kitchen, Breadboard Bakery, Clear Flour, Wild Pops, La Saison, Mommas, Waffle Cabin, Michette Bakery, Batifol, Zuzu's Petals and more. Also a bevy of local artists and vendors, wine by the glass and live music!

Celebrate with us at Le Grand Prix Elmendorf du Pain

Parisian Style Street Fair Come to East Cambridge on June 8th

The storied baguette is about as iconic as it gets in contemporary French culture. Its slender form a marvel of modern design. Endless burnished crust giving way to an open creamy interior just begging to be dunked in a steaming boule of moules or slathered with slab of pate.

For the past two years we've asked professional bakeries to submit their best baguettes for judgement as part of our Parisian-inspired bread festival and competition we call Le Grand Prix Elmendorf du Pain.

But why should they have all the fun? Why can't home bakers get in on the action? After much thought, and some debate, we've decided to make demi-baguettes the center of this year's home baker competition!

Before you break out the pitchforks hear us out. The point of a challenge is to push the boundaries. Only in the face of adversity does greatness truly emerge. And note we said "demi," which really means half the size.. We're not total sadists.

Sure baguettes are notoriously difficult to pull off in home ovens. They're not going to fit the cast iron pots so many home bakers use to emulate professional baking environments.

But that's why we think this is fun. We happen to live in one of the country's most creative communities. We're an engineering hub. Life-savings drugs are developed just blocks from our shop. You're saying we can put a man on the moon but we can't bake dinky little baguettes in our home ovens? We're not going to let you off the hook that easy.

We want to see your skills on display. A little bit of ingenuity. We know you can do it. But yeah, we know this won't be a walk in the park. Anyone who's thinking "how hard can this be" we warn you: don't get hoisted on your own batard.

And if you think you're the only ones getting thrown for a loop this year don't worry: we're asking the professionals to skip the baguette entirely and compete to see who's got the best croissant. At least we didn't ask you to do that right?

The Competition

CALLING ALL BAKERS! Bread really is a way of life in France, and the traditional baguette is a revered part of this tradition.

In fact every year more than a hundred Parisian bakeries drop off their baguettes for blind tasting in a massive competition called the Grand Prix de la Baguette. The winner becomes the official bread supplier of the French presidential residence.

Our competition is loosely based off the Parisian competition, which began in 1997. The French contest was the brainchild of then French President Jacques Chirac who wanted to combat what he saw as a degradation of French bread culture.

We're taking things a bit lighter in our competition (but still pretty seriously!). For one thing there aren't hundreds of bakeries cranking out baguettes in the Boston area! At least not yet. A boy can dream right?

We've decided to break the competition into two categories: amateur and professional. This year professionals will submit plain croissants and amateurs will feature demi-baguettes.

Contestants will submit their croissants and breads on the morning of the competition and they will be judged blind by a panel of experts and local luminaries. The winners of the competition will be announced live at the festival.

Competition spots can be reserved on Eventbrite for $35 (the cost goes to cover some part of the festival and prizes). Contestants also receive swag for entering. Submission guidelines can be seen on the Eventbrite page.

In addition to bragging rights we've got some great prizes for the the amateur competition.

Amateur Baker Sign Up

The Street Festival

Purchase a Parisian Picnic Basket

Celebrate with us at Le Grand Prix Elmendorf du Pain

Parisian Style Street Fair Come to East Cambridge on June 8th

The Competition

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