WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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In April, Visit Bloomington announced on their website that this year’s Taste of Bloomington festival would be cancelled, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Taste of Bloomington is an annual event celebrating the restaurants, breweries, and wineries of Bloomington and Indiana. The one-day Festival, which has traditionally kicked off summer festivities downtown, was initially scheduled this Saturday.
Last week, Visit Bloomington announced Taste To-Go to fill the void left by the cancellation of this year’s Taste of Bloomington. Taste To-Go is a week-long event encouraging the community to order carry-out, buy gift cards, or dine-in safety where lobbies are open at their favorite local restaurants. Over 30 restaurants are taking part in Taste To-Go festivities, most of which are offering their full menu during Taste To-Go. Some restaurants are offering Taste To-Go specials. Taste To-Go will be distributing special reusable carry-out bags, and the first five hundred picked up will contain a gift card to a random local restaurant.
Talisha Coppock is the executive director of Visit Bloomington Inc., and Co-director of the Taste of Bloomington. Coppock says that the Taste Committee recognized that they wouldn’t be able to host a physical event this year, but wanted to find a way to host Taste that kept the community safe while supporting Bloomington’s restaurant scene.
A large annual event like Taste of Bloomington often takes year-around planning to coordinate and host, but Taste To-Go has only been an idea since April. Coppock talks about the challenges of transforming the scale of an event in less than two months.
For Coppock’s family, and many families, the restaurants highlighted by Taste To-Go and Taste of Bloomington every year are more than just local businesses, which is why it’s important to support them, especially now.
Taste To-Go will run from this Saturday, June 20, through next Friday, June 26. The Taste To-Go carryout bags will be available at Visit Bloomington and the Monroe Convention Center starting this Friday, from 10 AM to 2 PM. A full list of participating restaurants can be found on Taste of Bloomington’s website, at tasteofbloomington.com.
For WFHB, I’m Jake Jacobson
