Centre County United Way’s annual Taste of the Town will offer some of the finest food local restaurants have to offer while giving attendees the chance to support a great cause.
The event will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.
‘It’s a very low-key, relaxed, fun environment,’ said Tammy Gentzel, executive director of the Centre County United Way. ‘There’s nice music playing softly… We’ve got 32 vendors who are set up around the room, and each vendor is serving a sample of their signature dish. You just go to each vendor table and are served what you think looks appealing and appetizing.’
The evening is like one big buffet and will feature appetizers, entrees and desserts from a variety of eateries and caterers from around the area, as well as beverages from Big Spring Spirits and Mount Nittany Winery.
Some of those establishments have been longtime participants in Taste of the Town, including Harrison’s Wine Grill and Catering, Benjamin’s Catering, Café Lemont and The Tavern Restaurant.
‘Those four have been with us over and over and I’d like to say a special thank you to them,’ Gentzel said.
New to the lineup this year are State Burger Co., Valley Girl Sweets, Federal Taphouse, and Bake Shop Bakes.
The night also will include live and silent auctions. The big item for the live auction is a helicopter ride, and Gentzel added that silent auction items have been selected that would make good gifts for holiday shopping lists.
Gentzel said the evening is set up to be ‘free-flowing.’ There’s no formal program for the night, and guests often end up moving from their assigned tables to catch up with friends and acquaintances.
‘I think a lot of people go ‘Oh, I need to go to another fundraiser event and I’m going to be stuck sitting there,’’ she said. ‘We’ve designed it to be an incredibly enjoyable evening on the town with friends, family, a date night, however you want to look at it.
‘And it’s a great way to recover from having to cook for Thanksgiving dinner the prior week and get out of the house to have something besides turkey.’
Tickets are $75, or $650 for a table of 10. Past guests have found the price of admission to be well worth it, Gentzel said.
‘Some of the new folks who attended last year, their response was very much the same as people who come year after year. They cannot believe how much food, and the quality of food, and how much fun they have for such a low cost,’ she said. ‘Everyone says ‘If I had been here and known how good this was I would be willing to spend $125, $150 a person to come back.’ You’re getting some of the finest food in the county for a very reasonable cost and you’re helping out a good cause when you do that.’
Tickets are available through the Centre County United Way website here.
Those ticket proceeds, meanwhile, are going to support the United Way’s partner network programs to help families in need.
‘Everything we raise goes directly to our partner network program expenses,’ Gentzel explained. ‘They’re making sure a family that has found themselves in crisis or in need for some reason is going to get support from that entire partner network.’
Centre County United Way has a network of 34 partners. Each of them is ‘an entry point’ for the others, Gentzel said, as it’s rare that people will need help from just one of those agencies.
‘The majority of the time they need help from multiple agencies,’ she said. ‘By supporting the partner network, you’re making sure they get help across the board in a seamless, organized, managed way.’
Taste of the Town dates back to 1997 and was originally a fundraiser for for The AIDS Project. When that organization closed in 2011, the event was given to Centre County United Way. Since then it’s become a major event for supporting the United Way’s efforts.
‘It’s extremely important, Gentzel said. ‘We raise between $20,000 and $30,000 a year from the event and we hope over time to continue to raise more than that as it becomes more popular in terms of our new makeup, which is this more casual, social experience.
‘The more we can raise from it, the more we can do for people who need our help.’
