Two Decades Later, Taste Of Chatham Still Going Strong

            CHATHAM --- For more than two decades, the Taste of Chatham has provided local residents and summer visitors with the opportunity to sample the best food the town has to offer under a single roof.  That will once again be the case Monday evening, when more than two dozen establishments offer their fare in the 21^st annual Monomoy Community Services fundraiser.

            The event raises more than $20,000 for the human services agency, and is its only fundraiser, according to Director Theresa Malone. The money goes toward MCS’ youth programs and counseling services.

            “It gets us through the rougher part of the winter,” she said.

            Thoughts of winter are far from the minds of those who attend the event, held under a big top tent on the grounds of the Chatham Elementary School, across Depot Road from MCS’s youth center. With grills smoking and libations flowing, the atmosphere is one of an elegant summer party with a few hundred of your closest friends.

            This year, the agency is making an effort to involve young people in the event.  As part of the silent auction, Malone said, platters decorated by Chatham High School art students will be offered.  And entertainment for the evening will be the Nauset High Jazz Band.

            “We’ve been trying to think of some things to bring the youth component into it a little more,” she said.

            This year will see the return of many establishments that have participated in the event for years, some since the very beginning, said Malone.  The Chatham Candy Manor, Chatham Jam and Jelly, Chatham Bars Inn, Buffy’s Ice Cream, and the Wayside Inn, in its various guises (this year as the Wild Goose Tavern) are among the restaurants that have contributed to nearly every Taste of Chatham. Other businesses have participated since they began, such as Chatham Natural Foods, Monomoy Coffee and Vining’s Bistro.

            “A lot have given us long standing support, which is great,” said Malone, “considering it’s a very different Chatham in July than it was when we started.”

            A number of local liquor stores also participate, including the Epicure, Harwich East Liquors and L. Knife and Sons.  This year, the Liquor Locker is bringing in Peak’s Organic Brewery for the first time, said Malone.

            Three local florists, Patrice Milley Floral Design, Sonny’s Florist and Terry Bergquist Floral Arrangements, will provide a sunburst of flowers to brighten up the tent. 

            The silent auction includes works by many local artists, as well as vacation stays in Florida and other locations. 

            Tickets to the patron’s preview, which begins at 5:30 p.m., are $125 per person.  The general stroll, which begins at 6:30 p.m., costs $50 per person.  Tickets are available through this weekend at Puritan Clothing in Chatham and the MCS office on Depot Road.  Tickets can also be purchased at the door; this year, credit cards will be accepted for admission as well as the silent auction, courtesy of TD Banknorth, Malone said.

            Taste of Chatham participants include the Art of Roasting, Blue Coral, Buffy’s Ice Cream, Cape Cod Beer, Chatham Bars Inn, Chatham Candy Manor, Chatham Coffee Co., Chatham Jam and Jelly, Chatham Natural Foods, the Epicure, Harwich East Liquors, L. Knife and Sons, Liquor Locker, Luscious Louie’s, Monomoy Coffee Company, Nantucket Wild Gourmet, Nickerson Fish and Lobster, Pampered Palate, Patrice Milley Floral Design, Red Nun, Sonny’s Florist, Terry Bergquist Floral Arrangements, Vining’s Bistro, Wequassett Inn, Wild Goose Tavern, and Women of Fishing Families.

7/24/08