This week was the first inaugural Taste of Sheboygan event in the conference center at Blue Harbor Resort, and I had the fortune of partaking in the event and being involved in the process of bringing this event to life. This event was so fun and successful, I thought I’d share about the event and the experience, as well as some cool behind the scenes tidbits.

Taste of Sheboygan is a food and beverage sampling event featuring small businesses and restaurants from the area. We wanted to represent not only some of Sheboygan’s favorite dishes and businesses, but a local Sheboygan non-profit. Therefore, a portion of the proceeds from the event were donated to the Sheboygan County Food Bank.

A Taste of Sheboygan featured twelve local restaurants: Blue Harbor Resort Banquets, Concina Mi Familia, Faye’s Pizza, Fresh Meal’s on Wheels, Meisfeld’s, Mini and me Desserts, No Pork On Your Fork, Parker John’s, Rumors Roadhouse BBQ, Sheboygan Pasty Co., Sunday Dough, and Vene’s Pancake House. In addition to food vendors, there were various local business vendors to check out: 3 Sheeps Brewing Co., B’loodie Gifts Part Store LLC (who also provided the decorations for the event), The Boutique, The Bull at Pinehurst Farms, Corporate Event Interactive, Der Sheboygan Biergarten, Discovery Coach, Dream Catcher Energies LLC, EOS Surf, Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center, The GameBoard, HI-TECH Sport Fishing Charters, Longhouse Sheboygan, Midwest Pepperheads, Mini Mocha Play Café, SEAS, Olivada, Reflections Spa, Relish Kitchen Store, Road America, Segway the Lakes Tour, Sheboygan A’s Baseball, Sheboygan Board and Brush, Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce, Top Notch Sportfishing Charters LLC, Visit Sheboygan, Wade House Historic Site, and WordHaven BookHouse. Good thing this is a blog post, otherwise I’d have to catch my breath after all of those businesses.

Tickets to the event included free food samples from the vendors, access to the businesses showcase, a bonfire on the beach, entertainment graciously provided by Boogie Time DJ Entertainment, and the chance to win various raffle prizes.

Upon arriving, tickets were checked and every ticketholder received a raffle ticket and a brochure before being welcomed into the ballroom and Lakeside Terrace in the Conference Center. Lakeside Terrace has two bar counters where patrons were welcome to order cocktails, wine, and beer. Ticketholders were free to wander all around the event, sampling vendor’s food, checking out the products for sale, chatting and networking with groups, enjoying the DJ music, sitting by the bonfire, and eagerly anticipating the raffle drawing that took place at the end of the event. Additionally, there was a 50/50 raffle you could purchase a ticket for throughout the night.

Ticketholders were encouraged to vote for their favorite food vendor throughout the night, as a people’s choice award would be announced based off whichever vendor had the most votes by the end of the night. Since I was there for the whole evening, I was there when the people’s choice winner was announced. It was a very close count between Vene’s Pancake House and Cocinca Mi Familia, but Vene’s won with the most votes by the end of the event! Congratulations Vene’s! And congratulations to all the participating vendors, I can say with certainty all of the vendor’s food were winners and outstanding in taste and presentation.

Perhaps the neatest aspect about helping put together this event was working with the Sheboygan County Food Bank, learning more about their mission, and helping behind the scenes at their warehouse. A group of Blue Harbor team members, including myself, went on a little field trip together during the month of March to the food bank to help pack over 500 snack bags for kids in school who face hunger on the weekends. There are approximately 5,000 children in Sheboygan County experiencing hunger, and the County Food Bank has a program created to specifically address this issue. The Food for Thought for Kids program provides a pack of healthy food, ranging from packaged snacks to fresh fruit, for kids to take home from school on Friday afternoons to ensure they have food to eat over the weekend. My colleagues and I worked on stuffing these snack packs for the morning, while learning more about the program from the workers at the Food Bank. They rely on donations and volunteers from the local community to keep this program running.

After volunteering and seeing how much the Food Bank does to support people struggling to get the most basic of needs, my excitement for the Taste of Sheboygan event doubled. Not only is it a fun event for people to gather and socialize over amazing local food while supporting local business, but just the price of your ticket to attend the event goes towards this amazing cause. I think the world would be a better place if everyone were compassionate enough to think of others while still taking care of themselves. Taste of Sheboygan is a great balance of both; you can network while enjoying some great food and have an evening of fun for yourself after a long workday, and while doing so, you’re also benefiting a population who is struggling to have their needs met. If you ask me, it’s a win/win situation.

To summarize, Taste of Sheboygan is one of my new favorite annual events, I’d almost go as far as considering it up there with holidays. It’s an event I will be counting down the months to and planning an outfit for weeks in advance. ;)