A decade of mac and cheese has never looked better, as the annual Mac and Cheese Festival returned to Binghamton on Thursday. Featuring dishes from traditional Italian restaurants to unique fusion concepts, no dish failed to make people say cheese.

Held at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel, the festival filled the banquet room wall to wall with students and community members eager to sample an array of mac and cheese with bright yellow baseball caps and forks in hand. Twenty restaurants lined the room as assembly lines of workers rushed to fill cups. The panel of judges sat above it all, tasting each dish and awarding the prizes, which included Best of the Fest and Best Non-Traditional Mac and Cheese.

The festival is held each year as a fundraiser for the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra. Proceeds came from ticket sales and a massive raffle, which included items like memberships to the Jewish Community Center, Binghamton Rumble Ponies tickets and merchandise and a basket of high-quality Italian ingredients.

Julia Grella O’Connell, the director of education and community engagement at the Binghamton Philharmonic, helped organize the event and works to share art and music with the community. In that spirit, the majority of this year’s celebrity judges were leaders in the Binghamton art world.

“We are focusing this year on how the arts provide so much to this community,” Grella O’Connell said. “They provide so much in terms of jobs, they provide so much in terms of driving economic growth, and they provide so much in helping us as a city to connect to one another through what makes us fully human, which is great art.”

Daniel Fried, the president of Binghamton University’s cheese club, was one of the celebrity judges. He shared his excitement at the great turnout and multitude of options.

“Being on the cheese club, I like cheese probably more than the average person,” Fried, a senior majoring in chemistry, said. “It’s just really fun to see what all these restaurants do with their mac and cheese. It’s very diverse.”

There was no lack of variety, as restaurants offered their own take on the traditional pasta dish or created something new entirely. Establishments like the Park Diner and American Dining Creations made their mark, while other restaurants offered a novel take, like Courtside Bar & Grill’s Gumbo Mac and Cheese.

Patti Bail, who represented American Dining Creations and presented at the festival for the first time, shared that the size of the event was much larger than she expected and joked about bringing more trays next time.

About 90 minutes into the event, a hush fell over the crowd as the winners were announced. Park Diner and Kampai Japanese Steakhouse respectively took home Best Traditional Mac and Best Non-Traditional Mac once more, as both have been favorites for many years. Courtside swooped in to win New to the Fest with great excitement, and Downtown by Chef Jay Pisculli won Judge’s Choice.

The biggest award of the night, Best of the Fest, came from a popular vote, and BIG ZUES Barbecue’s brisket bacon ranch claimed victory.

“We’re on top of the world,” said one of the chefs, Jesus Clarke. “Every year, it gets bigger and bigger, and we’re looking forward to next year.”

But Mac and Cheese Fest is so much more than determining a winner and loser. It’s a community staple that means so much to the people of Binghamton. Take the Haynes Family, for example, who have been at every event since the second-annual festival. The family has made the tradition an extravagant and inclusive affair, bringing partners over the years to join in on their fun. Featuring engraved spoons, mac and cheese-themed shirts, and a Kraft Mac and Cheese-style notebook, the family gave this year’s festival a rave review.

“It’s just a fun time,” they said. “I’ve gotten a bunch of my coworkers coming this year. Come on down and enjoy yourself. It’s a blast.”

The Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual Mac and Cheese Fest is not an event to miss, and Pipe Dream is counting down the days to next year.