A chilly breeze couldn’t keep hundreds of residents from getting a feel for the flavor of downtown during a three-hour event Saturday night that transformed a city parking lot into a minifestival called the Taste of East Lansing.
The Community Relations Coalition, or CRC, hosted its first-ever Taste of East Lansing event Saturday evening near the Ann Street Plaza, drawing a large crowd underneath a white tent filled with the sights and sounds of blaring rock music and hot food.
Food tickets sold for $2, and tickets for samples of food also could be purchased.
About 50 percent of the event’s raffle ticket and silent auction proceeds were expected to be donated to the Rotary Club of East Lansing’s Playground in the Park Re-Imagined project, an effort to build a new playground in Bailey Neighborhood’s Patriarche Park. About 25 percent of the event’s food ticket proceeds also were expected to be donated to the cause.
Restaurants such as Harper’s Restaurant and Brewpub, 131 Albert Ave., contributed food and drinks, while the East Lansing fire and police departments hosted safety demonstrations across the street and children played in a special games booth.
Residents laughed and chatted as they scooped up food from a buffet and placed bids on silent auction items, including an autographed basketball from MSU women’s head basketball coach Suzy Merchant.
MSU alumna and Okemos resident Karlene Belyon and her husband unexpectedly walked up to the event as they strolled through downtown East Lansing.
“My first impression was this was just a cool place to be,” she said. “(We’re) going to hang out for a while.”
Belyon said she and her husband would venture into East Lansing much more often if other events such as the Taste of East Lansing were more common.
Olivia Seifert, an MSU graduate student and an intern coordinator for CRC, said even after the group worked to round up businesses and secure sponsors, the event’s outcome was still up in the air.
“We really had no idea what to expect,” she said. “Our hope is that this will become an annual event.”
In the future, the event should become a downtown staple, East Lansing Mayor Diane Goddeeris said.
Goddeeris said she was pleased with the large variety of foods served at the event, including root beer floats from Harper’s.
She added that the CRC put in countless hours working to secure sponsors and line up businesses.
“I think that the CRC will probably look at this as their signature event,” she said. “I think it is a great turnout.”
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