Grace ApostolA large volume of visitors milled through a white tent-lined Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda, Md., this past weekend. Each was eager to try the different cuisines, music and atmosphere Maryland offers.
For 32 years, the music and food festival Taste of Bethesda, taken over by Bethesda Urban Partnership, has welcomed local restaurants to showcase their cuisine to residents and visitors of Bethesda, and this Saturday, Oct. 5, was no exception.
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., patrons could purchase food tickets to use at any of the 43 restaurant tents open. At the same time, festival-goers enjoyed live music from local artists in the area.
Christina and Luke Gilday live around the corner from the annual event and brought their dog early into the day’s festivities to check it out.
“It’s so, so, so packed,” Christina said. “I wasn’t expecting all these people so quickly after it opened.”
Sherri Watkins, a Bethesda resident, also attended the festival with her dog, a nine-week-old chihuahua puppy. Watkins said she and her dog were experiencing the festival for the first time together.
“When I walked by, I thought, ‘This will be a great place to stop by and let her really experience and develop her brain,’” Watkins said. “I’m here for her, too, to make sure she can interact with a lot of people and smell all the different smells and hear all the different sounds. And I’m just really impressed with what the community’s been able to bring in here, and that there’s so many people here having a great time.”
Not only was the event dog-friendly, but it was also family-friendly. With face paint for children and an entire area dedicated to “Kid’s Corner,” families like Rachel Rodriguez’s come for the event every year.
“I have three kids, and we have gone to a lot of these restaurants, so we thought it would be fun to come down here and try different things,” she said.
Several businesses in the area were able to showcase their brands as well during the festival. M&T Bank employees from different areas of the DMV area worked ticket tents and promoted their business while doing so.
Theresa Ramsaroop and Michael Reid with M&T Bank took in the festival while on a break from selling tickets.
“It’s definitely family-oriented,” said Reid, the Northwest D.C. bank locations manager. “This is my first time volunteering and thanks to Theresa, she has explained how great it is every year and she’s definitely correct with that.”
Ramsaroop manages the M&T Bank in Bethesda and agreed with Reid’s sentiments. “I like the diversity here,” she said. “There’s such a wide array of different foods/restaurants here. I think it caters to all different taste buds.”
From Indian food to pub food, the over 40 restaurant participants offer event goers a wide array of cuisines. Silver, an “upscale” version of the DMV Silver Diner chain, was one of the many popular choices of the day.
“I know people are enjoying our food,” Marketing Manager of Silver Gabby Howenstein said. “We have already ran out of one of our items so far.”
Julie Brown, General Manager of Rock Bottom Brewery saw a similar high turnout for her restaurant’s tent, stating, “I think we are going to see some top-tier sales this year.”
According to Stephanie Coppula, Director of Marketing and Communications of Bethesda Urban Partnership, each ticket purchased and utilized at the restaurant tents makes a profit for the vendors. At the end of the event, the restaurants turn the tickets into Bethesda Urban Partnership and, in turn, get 60% of their ticket sales, while the Bethesda organization keeps 40%.
“I’ve certainly heard from restaurants over the years that this is one of the best marketing activities that they do,” Coppula said. “And I think that’s just some of the best marketing a restaurant can do is actually, you know, getting to try their food.”
The Taste of Bethesda event originated in 1992 through a collaboration of downtown restaurants. It was taken over by Bethesda Urban Partnership when the organization was founded two years later.
Jason Liu is the Urban Partnership Marketing and Events Manager, and according to him, one of his main roles is planning Taste of Bethesda. Liu said that planning for the event begins in May by reaching out to Bethesda restaurants to turn in applications to participate. He also said that this was the first year since before COVID-19 that the festival had nice weather to enjoy.
“This year, it’s beautiful weather,” Liu said. “I think you can tell that there’s large crowds, people are happy, and we couldn’t have asked for more.”
Coppula believes that the mission of the Urban Partnership in Bethesda and the festival event help showcase the town’s close community.
“Our goal is to market and maintain downtown Bethesda, and we’ve kind of always been this small community, as you know, just outside of Washington, DC, but with a high concentration of restaurants,” she said. “So, I think restaurants have always been near and dear to the community here. The restaurants really support each other, and I think it’s just kind of grown and become this really fun community day.”
For more on vendors, please visit Taste of Bethesda.
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