Representing Wild Beaver Saloon, Leah Francour, left, and Laura Zavislak give samples of specialty flatbread pizza at the first Lansing Taste of Downtown. The festival, held on South Washington Square, featured 15 restaurants and gave attendees the opportunity to experience some of Lansing’s finest culinary offerings.
Residents of the Lansing area sorted through more than 100 varieties of wine and food samples from 15 different local vendors Saturday at Lansing’s Taste of Downtown.
The inaugural event kicked off at 3 p.m. on South Washington Square in Lansing, and was hosted by the Lansing Principal Shopping District, or LPSD, with wine and food served buffet style accompanied by music from live local bands Third Coast Steel and Soulstice.
Ted Robison, the owner of Ted-Dee’s Sandwich Shop, 119 S. Washington Square, and a part of the group that developed the event, said he estimated the crowd would devour 100 of his specialty sandwiches, even with only sample sizes being served.
“We wanted to bring people to downtown Lansing and showcase all of our businesses here on the square,” Robison said.
The LPSD listened and responded because it wanted to make an event happen for the owners, said Sara Pawloski, spokeswoman for LPSD.
“It was cool because the business owners actually had come to us, and it doesn’t usually work that way,” Pawloski said. “(They) wanted to do a new summer event to get more people downtown this summer. The idea was to do an international feel, and it just kind of morphed into the Taste of Downtown.”
The international theme featured the Palace of Jamaica Caribbean Cuisine Take Out’s jerk chicken and wine offered from several different countries, including Australia and Canada.
Pawloski said the inaugural event was about raising awareness and attracting people to the area.
“It’s definitely to make people aware that downtown Lansing is a great place to be,” she said. “To make them aware of the restaurants we have down here, the food we have down here and the entertainment. The goal is to get them to experience this and then get them to come back. If they find a wine they like or a restaurant they like, then hopefully they’ll come back.”
The large crowd made some of the local business owners feel the event was a success, said Vicki Ueberroth, co-owner of Grand Grillin’, a mobile vendor with a number of unique recipes, including a sandwich with chicken, crumbled blue cheese, dried cranberries, honey roasted pecans and an apple cider vinaigrette.
Ueberroth said she was honored to be asked to participate in the event.
“This sounded like a really fun event that draws a lot of people and it was great advertising for my business,” she said. “I think it’s awesome to be able to see what downtown has to offer. I know before I came downtown with my business I never realized how much life the city has.”
Beth Whittam, an Okemos resident, enjoyed her wine with a friend and said she wouldn’t change a thing about the event.
“I’m enjoying everything, the music, the food and the wine,” Whittam said. “It’s certainly off to a good start, I don’t see anything to really improve right now.”
Although, Pawloski was already concentrating on how the tasting event could expand for 2011.
“Definitely growth — more restaurants involved, possibly beer tasting, longer length of time and more people coming to it and going away from it with a positive experience,” Pawloski said.
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