The Grand Taste event at the Grand River Raceway on Sunday was a grand fundraiser.
Dozens of area restaurants offered samples of the best of their establishments and organizer Noreen Winters said in an interview she expected over 300 tickets were sold for this year’s event.
The Grand River Rotary Club hosts the event, and this year it was sponsored by OLG and Scotia Bank in Fergus.
Winter said it will be a few weeks before the final proceeds are known.
“It’s pretty darned good, I think,” said Winters in an interview as a large crowd lined up at a nearby server station to try some pulled pork. “I’m very impressed.”
Winters added, “It’s hard to sell tickets sometimes when you don’t have a central location.”
There were ticket outlets in Elora and Fergus, and lots of people managed to find them. “I think we’re close to the max,” she said with a smile.
Centre Wellington Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj said it is nice to see just how many restaurants there are in the community and how diverse they can be.
“It’s a treat to try all of them,” she said, adding that all the booth operators not only satisfied appetites, but were very willing to explain their food, including “what goes into them.”
“It’s a wonderful event for a fundraiser,” the mayor continued. “We certainly have a wide variety of choices,” she said, noting there was a wide diversity ranging from main courses to desserts. “For a small community we are extremely well served in culinary tourism.”
Offerings ranged from a variety of gourmet burgers, smoked trout, crepes and even “Newfie fried steak” (bologna) with a secret sauce. There were all kinds of dessert cookies and snacks.
Elora’s Gord Brown was enjoying every minute.
“This is the fifth one I’ve been to,” he said in an interview. “Three here and two at the museum. It’s a great function.” He then noted that for those watching their weight, the event can be dangerous.
“If you sample everything, you’ve got to go out and run around the track,” Brown quipped.
Robert Gilbert and his wife Lorraine, longtime volunteers at Groves Hospital in Fergus, were also enjoying the day.
“It’s a great tradition said Rob Gilbert. “They tell me this is the seventh one – and it deserves to be continued.”
Lorraine Gilbert added, “I like where the money goes.”
Sherri Sutherland, of the Groves Hospital Foundation thanked everyone for attending and said this year the money raised will be used to purchase hospital emergency equipment.
Sutherland said, “We want to have the best equipment, but there’s never enough funds.”
She called the Grand Taste, “a delicious event.”
