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PrintCOLUMBIA — Families eagerly waited in a long line Saturday night to taste some of Columbia's fresh market produce and to sample Missouri beer and wine at the second annual Taste of the Market.
The event was organized by the Columbia Farmers' Market, and the proceeds will help fund their campaign to build a pavilion to house the market year-round.
- From left, Calvin Rolark, restaurant consultant for Hemingway's Wine and Bistro, and Greg Brockmeier, Hemingway's sous-chef, serve corn and black bean risotto with chipotle beef and dark chocolate sauce at the Taste of the Market. It took the chefs at Hemingway's 12 man-hours to prepare the food and many more in planning for this event.
- Peachtree Catering and Banquet serves a sampling of their food at the Taste of the Market. People packed the tents after paying their $5 entry fee to sample food made by various local restaurants and ingredients provided by Columbia Farmers' Market vendors.
- Aaron Pugh, a cook for Hemingway's Wine and Bistro, mixes cheese into the corn and black bean risotto in preparation for the Taste of the Market. For the event, Hemingway's made enough food to serve 500 people.
Entering the event, volunteers collected tickets in order to help determine the number of people attending.
“We’re hoping to have a couple of thousand people show up,” said Pam Meng, a volunteer. There were more than 2,000 people at last year’s Taste of the Market. The large crowds and long lines seemed to indicate that this goal wouldn't be a problem.
Each guest paid $5 to get in, and additional donations for the event were collected by Kay Callison, a member of the Advisory Committee for the Farmers' Market Pavilion.
“I’m not sure how much we have, but we’ve received some $500 and $1,000 donations,” Callison said.
For a donation of just $20, guests received a reusable shopping bag to take home.
Under one of several tents set up for the evening, rows of folding chairs and bails of hay were clustered together to enable attendees to sit and enjoy the music provided by the bands Ironweed and the Northwoods. There were also live auctions and a blown-up television screen that sat at the end of the resting area. The documentary "Good Food" was scheduled to show at 8:45 p.m.; it gives viewers a more direct look at farmers, businesses and ranches creating a more sustainable food system in the Pacific Northwest.
Guests were also invited to sample wine and various foods from top chefs and diverse restaurants in Columbia.
Although the event was scheduled to go until 11 p.m., the food was running out within the first couple hours. Around 7:45 p.m. the $5 entrance fee was waived, but donations were still accepted.
Bins labeled compost, styrofoam, plastic and regular trash were there to encourage guests to recycle, and volunteers pointed out to people where each item of trash should be placed.
“We’re trying to show people the magnitude of what a difference it makes when you recycle,” said Steve Senger, a long-time volunteer with the farmers market.
Hannah Satterwhite, 17, watched her mother, Margaret Waddell, read and sing to infants and toddlers at a booth dedicated to the Hummingbirdhouse Music Studio.
“There’s tons of stuff to do here,” Satterwhite said. “The whole family can come and be entertained.”
Comments
The beef was amazing. Good job Greg!
@Kindra Bach:
How'd you manage to get beef?
(Is Greg your husband or employer?)
I guess if you came for the food, you had to wait on very long lines for a sliver on a toothpick and then wait on an even longer line to find out that they ran out of ice cream.
The promoters should have told everyone not to come hungry.
Kudos to Ironweed and Northwoods for some great music.
Judy Baker and Tim Harlan were excellent auctioneers.
(If the organizers cared about feeding such an unexpected large turnout, they should have ordered out for wheat crusted pizza. I was tempted to do so.)
It was great to see so many people, even though they were only set up to feed about one-third in attendance. The open air atmosphere reminded me of the days when we had Twilight Festival music around the courthouse circle. (Hacky-Sack Guy and all.)
When I got home I grabbed a hot dog out of the fridge.
The hot dog was amazing. Good job Oscar Meyer.
(And, no long, long, long line.)
This was a good idea, but not well planned at all. I got there at 7:00 and was told they were out of food. They also advertised children's activities but all I was able to find was one overworked clown making balloon animals. There was no way I could stick around and enjoy the music with an empty stomach and a bored kid.