Bring your appetites to the 13th annual Taste of New Hampshire

Local musician Brad Myrick looks excitedly at the beer selection at the 12th annual Taste of New Hampshire in 2017 (then known as Taste of Concord). HK Photography
Local musician Brad Myrick looks excitedly at the beer selection at the 12th annual Taste of New Hampshire in 2017. HK Photography
Live cooking demos will be one of the big draws at the 2018 Taste of New Hampshire event at the Grappone Conference Center.  HK Photography
Live cooking demos will be one of the big draws at the 2018 Taste of New Hampshire event at the Grappone Conference Center. HK Photography
Live cooking demos will be one of the big draws at the 2018 Taste of New Hampshire event at the Grappone Conference Center.  HK Photography
Live cooking demos will be one of the big draws at the 2018 Taste of New Hampshire event at the Grappone Conference Center. HK Photography
The mariachi band brought in by El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant was one of the big hits at last year's Taste of New Hampshire event (then known as Taste of Concord). HK Photography
The mariachi band brought in by El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant was one of the big hits at last year's Taste of New Hampshire event. HK Photography

Don’t look now, but one of the greatest days on the Concord calendar is right around the corner: Taste of New Hampshire day.

The festival of food, put on by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire as a fundraiser, returns for a 13th year Thursday, and with a slight tweak to its name from years past – formerly the Taste of Concord, the event’s new name reflects the fact that the Boys & Girls Clubs’ network is expanding, as is this event.

The Taste of New Hampshire event is a big showcase of nearly 40 restaurants and other food businesses from the Concord area serving some of their signature dishes. There’s also craft beer and fine wine that will be shown off – and consumed en masse.

While the event is a foodie’s dream, it also serves an important purpose for the Boys & Girls Clubs, said Lisa Clark, special events manager for the organization’s Central New Hampshire division.

“We have 12 clubs currently in the area, and we support about 2,200 kids in the area throughout the year,” she said of the clubs.

“Now having the 12 sites across central New Hampshire, we’re serving more kids annually. With that the budget increases. Next year it will be about $5 million. Fundraising helps offset program costs.”

A lot of money raised through special events like this goes to scholarships for kids who wouldn’t otherwise be able to come to the clubs, Clark said. The money also helps provide kids with the opportunity to attend a summer camp at the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Apart from just a cornucopia of mouth-watering food available all through the night, there will also be six live cooking demonstrations, so you can take notes and make your own gourmet feasts at home.

On the beverage side, New Hampshire Distributors will be on hand pouring samples of some seasonal beers. M.S. Walker and Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits will also be there for the wine lovers in the crowd. Horizon Beverage Co. will also be represented, so there will be plenty of options. All of the beverages will be included with the $35 ticket price, so you don’t need to worry about bringing extra cash for drinks (although tips would probably be appreciated, one would imagine).

This year’s event will feature 39 vendors, including the following ones who will be making their first Taste of New Hampshire appearances this year: The Birch on Elm (of Manchester), Colby Hill Inn (Henniker), Fratello’s (Laconia), Lakehouse Tavern (Hopkinton), New England Tap House Grille (Hooksett), Pats Peak Banquet Center (Henniker), Wolfe’s Tavern at Wolfeboro Inn and Twelve 31 Events of Tilton.

There are a few changes to this year’s event from years past.

“It morphed last year,” Clark said. “That was the first year we started calling it Taste of New Hampshire. Just recognizing that the club is growing and serving more kids in Central New Hampshire.”

Along with the name change comes a tweak to the format. Now gone is the slider competition – this year’s Taste of New Hampshire event won’t have any competitive element to it.

“We had feedback that people would love to see something different,” Clark said. “We decided to just take a year off (from the competition) and we’ll hopefully have a new idea for next year. I know some of the restaurants enjoy competing in that.”

In some ways that kind of takes the stress out of things – now everyone from the cooks to the attendees can just relax and focus on cooking and eating as much food as humanly possible and not worrying about who’s the best.

Besides the food, the event will also include live music from a Boston-based Mariachi band brought in by El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant, a group Clark said was a huge hit last year. “People were taking selfies with them – everybody loved them,” she said. “It’s fun just to go for them!”

There will also be about 20 items available for silent auction that will be auctioned off over the course of the night, as well as a door prize, though that door prize was still being worked out as of last week.

Another new element this year, if minor, is the ability to download tickets to bring to the event. In the past, if you ordered your tickets online, you had to wait for them to be sent out in the mail. This year, through using Eventbrite, you’ll be able to download your tickets and bring them with you for a nice no-hassle experience.

Tickets can also be purchased at Cimo’s South End Deli, the 99 Restaurant in Concord or Tilton, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire on Bradley Street and at the door at the Grappone Conference Center. There is no additional fee for buying tickets at the door – it’s a flat rate of $35 per ticket or $300 for 10, and the ticket covers everything you eat and drink. Due to the free-flowing alcohol, this will be a 21-plus event.

The 13th annual Taste of New Hampshire will be held at the Grappone Conference Center from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. For more info, a full list of participating businesses and to buy tickets, go to tasteofnewhampshire.com/default.html.

Author: Jon Bodell

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