Jerome, Idaho (KMVT-TV) Thursday night over in Jerome, a first ever event of its kind in Southern Idaho made its debut, as residents from across the Magic Valley showed up to help lend their support.

The first ever, 2012 Herb Festival kicked off this evening over at Moss Greenhouses in Jerome.

This one of a kind, one night only festival was jammed packed full of music, food, vendors and all the locally grown herbs you could handle.

The festival was designed to get local residents excited about the concept of cook and using Herbs from their own gardens.

And at tonight event, festival goers got a stomach full of food and ideas to take back to their own kitchens.

Local businesses and restaurants from all over Twin and Jerome got in on the action.

A chef’s challenge was held to help highlight the wonders of cooking with these fresh local herbs.

Also a hot pepper eating contest was held along with a tomato tasting corner and not to mention the “No-Host Bar”.

“For everybody who has lived here for years there looking for those new and interesting things. So herb Festival kind of came about and it evolved. It was much like a tiny snowball that started to roll down hill and it created itself in a lot of ways.” Said Jennifer Moss from the 2012 Herb Festival.

All of the money raised from tonight’s festival will go to help support the 5th judicial court C.A.S.A. program here in the Magic Valley.

And with tonight’s festival being such a major hit, event officials say that this is something that all residents in the Magic Valley can look forward to for many years to come.