Roughly 550 ticket-holders strolled along Ocean Drive from Sexton Plaza to Humiston Park last Wednesday evening, tasting delicious samplings from 25 local food establishments at the Oceanside Business Association’s annual Taste of Vero. Tickets had sold out quickly, leaving procrastinators to simply enjoy the musical entertainment provided by the Bobby Owen Band and Deja Blue and the incredible weather, while vowing to plan ahead next year.
Crowds of people happily grazed on dishes at the participating establishments, which offered specialty cocktails and small bites of their house specialties. Each participant had been paired with a business sponsor, who added to the merriment by dressing up the booths and distributing fun promotional items, hoping to win favor and curry votes.
In the end, winners voted and chose as People’s Choice – Blue Agave, for its Cabeza taco with cucumber watermelon margarita; Best Theme – Blue Agave, which had a traditional Mexican mariachi band; and Best Dessert – Countryside Citrus, for its tart Key lime pie with citrus soft serve.
“This is just a wonderful way to get together with all of our friends, business partners and the community to support our restaurants and businesses,” said OBA President Georgia Irish. “It brings people to the beach and has some making reservations at the hotels just to stay here overnight for the event.”
Taste of Vero is easily one of the most anticipated events of the season with people looking forward to socializing with friends and sampling dishes from their favorite restaurants as well as those they have not yet tried. And it provides the owners of the various restaurants, gourmet grocers and specialty food and drink establishments an opportunity to connect with old and new customers.
“I had a great time, I enjoyed it too much,” laughed Jan Donlan, commenting about the amount of food she had eaten. “But really this just seems like such a great sense of community; all these people coming to the event to be with each other. And that is just fun.”
“We are so jazzed to be here because it is such an incredible community event and everyone comes out for it. It also supports local businesses and other events just like the Vero Beach Wine & Film Festival,” said Jerusha Stewart, founder of the June 9-12 event.
The past few years, tickets have been sold through Riverside Theatre and the convenience of purchasing them online or at the box office led to the event being sold out in two days this year.
“We have three more weeks until our main season is over,” said Jon Moses, Riverside’s managing director. “It’s a great relationship for us because it’s a great way for us to promote our last show, ‘Sister Act,’ which opens next week [April 12] and it helps the OBA because of our ticketing services.”
The OBA has hosted the event the past 20 years to bolster the beachside economy while also raising money to support other events they produce such as the annual Vero Beach Christmas Parade and the Oceanside Concert Series. A new feature this year enabled the H.A.L.O. No Kill Rescue to raise money by allowing them to sell beer and wine.
“Every year we have grown and I think that is just a testament to the event,” said David Pagliaro, co-organizer with Brittany Swartz. “It just keeps growing and getting better every year.”
