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By DONALD MOTTERN | Staff Writer

PELHAM – With less than two months left to go before the event, the Pelham Public Library is now entering into full preparations for its annual Taste of Pelham event, which will celebrate its ninth outing this year.

The latest iteration of the event will take place on Thursday, April 11 from 6-8 p.m. at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena and promises attendees an opportunity to support their local library and an ability to enjoy an evening of great tastes.

“The Taste of Pelham (was started as) a fundraiser for the Pelham library,” said Debra Parrot, president of the Pelham Library Guild. “We’ve used it to purchase furniture for the library—whether that’s inside or outdoor furniture—upgrades to the technology and electronics and whatever the specific needs have been for the library at the time.”

However, over and above being a fundraiser, Parrot and the rest of the guild view the evening as an ability to bring awareness to the public about where the library is, what it does and what it means to the local community.

“It is a way to draw attention to the Pelham library and make it a destination,” Parrot said.

The first Taste of Pelham was held 12 years ago and was birthed as an idea to help raise funding to construct a new library for the city. After overcoming a two-year hiatus brought upon by the COVID-19 Pandemic, the event has roared back and continues as one of the city’s most anticipated events each spring.

While this year’s list of participating restaurants has not yet been released, event organizers are already conversing with more than 20 participants for positions in the upcoming event and have confirmed that this year’s event will be just as populated with numerous examples of the local palate as previous years.

“It’s 22 to 25 local restaurants, caterers, wineries and breweries all collected in one place,” Parrot said. “The guests walk around and visit as many booths as they like and get to just enjoy all of the great culinary extravagance of the Pelham restaurant scene.”

When the time for the event does arrive, awards will be presented to the businesses for those offering the best entrée, the best dessert, best vegetable and the best all-around offering. In a novel move compared to previous events, the winners will be determined via popular vote rather than a judge’s panel.

“Every attendee will have a chance to cast a vote for the winner,” Parrot said. “We have done a judge’s panel in the past, but we decided that this year we would give all of the guests an opportunity to vote and decide.”

According to event organizers, attendees will be able to cast their votes on their preferred winners for each category through the use of scanned QR codes that will be present and displayed at each of the booths.

To aid in the night’s entertainment, The Jazz Project will play its own renditions of jazz music throughout the evening.

Ticket sales for the event went live on March 1 and are now available online via Eventbrite and can also be purchased in-person at the Pelham Public Library while tickets remain available. Although tickets are limited, they will be $40 when purchased in advance or $50 if purchased at the door on the evening of the event, should any remain.

“That price gets the guest into the event and they can go back and forth and eat and enjoy as much as they want inside the event,” Parrot said.

Details about the event can be found at the Pelham Public Library’s website at Pelhamlibraryal.gov/625/Library-Guild.

Tickets for the event can be purchased online via Eventbrite at Eventbrite.com/e/2024-taste-of-pelham-tickets-853646047307. All proceeds from ticket sales and the event itself will benefit the Pelham Public Library.