The social season begins in the Abingtons with the 11th Taste of The Abingtons from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13 at the Nichols Village Hotel and Spa.
On the days before the big event, an army of ordinary people will begin special work to make Taste the success it has been for the past 10 years. It takes a lot of doing to plan a menu, shop for ingredients, hire extra workers. Chefs and sous chefs will chop and simmer, cook and bake and then pack it all up and take it to the inn early in the day on the 13th. Rotarians will have spots marked so that each restaurateur will know where to set up.
Pots and pans will be unpacked. Flames will begin to warm foods and, when the door opens for the Taste of the Abingtons at 5 p.m., all will be ready for the fun and fare of the day. All those business people who run restaurants and wineries will then give their products away.
Rotarian Laurie Stephens is the chairperson for Taste this year. By career, she is a designer and her planning and organizational skills as well as her artistic design ability will make this Taste unique. She began work on the event months ago and designed a new logo that says it all at first glance.
The squared symbol shows four sections, a fork and spoon in one, a wine glass in the second, a basket in the third and a music symbol in the last section. That logo beckons to those who see it, to come, sample foods, have a glass of wine, take a chance on a basket and listen to jazz and piano music.
If you have never had a cigar but always wanted to try one, you can enter an enclosed tent in the courtyard of the Inn and puff in peace. Also in that outdoor court will be wine samples offered by Maiolatesi Wine Cellars and Bartolai Winery and beer suds to sip from a quality brewery provided by 3 Guys and a Beer’d Brewing Co. All will be under outdoor tents.
Restaurants coming to the event include Thirteen Olives, Harvest Catering & Events, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Weis Markets, Manning Farm Dairy, Glenburn Grill & Bakery, Atami Sushi, Old Milwaukee Café & Bakery, Parmigiano’s Restaurant, Miller’s Orchards Farm Market, Nichols Village Hotel & Spa, Bazil Ristorante Italiano, Sidel’s Restaurant, Arcaro & Genell’s, Blu Wasabi, Sunrise Café, Carmen’s, Cooper’s, Fern Hall, Gertrude Hawk and A Little Pizza Heaven.
Rotarians will have assistance from youths who benefit from our good will. Our own Interact Club, made up of high school students, and the Boy Scouts will be at Taste to lend a hand.
When The Taste of the Abingtons first began with an idea from Rotarian Guy Cali, several members of the Rotary club worked at Sandvik and were originally from Sweden. These Rotarians set up a booth called Ingrid’s Swedish Meatballs, naming the item after Bengt Berg’s wife, Ingrid. The food was flown in from Sweden. Rotarians picked up the frozen packages from the airport and made the sauce according to unique instructions. The meatballs were such a success that, although the original Swedish Rotarians are no longer members, the event continues with new Rotarians. Ingrid’s Meatballs are still a popular item at Taste.
If good music, samples of beer and wine and the best of our local foods are not enough to entice you to come to the Taste of the Abingtons, we have baskets of such a wide range of products, all donated by these area businesses: 31 Bags, Abington Community Library, Advocare, Bare Essentials, Camelot, Chloe & Co., Cigars on State Street, Coral’s Creations, Dansel in Defense, Disaster Blaster, Isle Follow the Sun Travel, Mady Mak Designs, Mattes & Mattes P.C., Momma R. Designs, Plexus Worldwide, Rodan & Fields Dermatology, Stampin’Up Connie Hendricks, and Touchstone crystal jewelry.
Just look at that number of area businesses listed, each giving away products and services to help the Rotary Club of the Abingtons do the good it does here at home and abroad. We are so lucky to live and work and play in an area where giving back is part of our everyday life.
Now it’s your turn. Come to the Taste of the Abingtons on Sept. 13, just for the fun of it all. Your ticket of $25 can be obtained from me at 570-563-1171 or Laurie Stephens at 570-319-1728 or purchased online at TasteoftheAbingtons.com.
It’s Taste…see you there!
