Taste of Durham coming May 26

The third-annual Taste of Durham Festival is coming next Saturday, May 26, from 11am to 7pm. This year's festival will feature food from literally a wide range of Durham eateries -- from Grasshopper, George's Garage, and Parizade... to Texas Roadhouse, the Honeybaked Ham Company, and Cold Stone Creamery. As before, a range of musical acts and activities for kids and families will be available as well. For more information, visit the festival web site.

This year's festival has been marked with some local controversy and grumbling by central Durhamites after moving from two successful years in the Brightleaf Square parking lot to the Imperial Center, off Page Road at the eastern edge of RTP. According to the organizers, the change is not a permanent one but was necessitated by "logistical issues" of the Brightleaf location not being large enough to serve the growing event. As organizer Kim Ruskan wrote:

We explored ways to use other land areas downtown and use other properties, and even discussed with Duke University officials the possibility of hosting the festival on East Campus for its open space and ambiance. During times of considerable construction, downtown redevelopment, and unavailability of property, we had to look elsewhere for space. As we grow and further establish the event, we will continue to evaluate proper locations for the event's future home, including downtown locations. The Imperial Center, the attractive new venue, is also in the City of Durham limits (District 4) and in Durham County with easy access with ample parking. TOD is designed to serve all of Durham and create a welcoming place for new and existing community members. Until we find appropriate space, we may have to "move it around" a bit.

Personally, I wish Taste of Durham all the best this year -- but I hope they're able to find a location closer to Durham's core for future years' festival. There are certainly options that could work, next year or even now in some cases -- the DAP after its renovation, the Farmer's Market/Central Park (including the old parking lot home for the Market), or Old North Durham Park are but a few that come to mind.

Durham's home to a number of truly great restaurants -- the vast majority of which lie in a few miles' radius of Brightleaf Square. Here's hoping an end to downtown construction and some creativity in thinking of new spaces can bring the festival closer to these restaurants, back where it belongs.

Comments

[mike]

I agree completely. I will not be attending this year, not out of principal, but just b/c I like to enjoy atmosphere as much as the food, and near Southpoint just doesn't cut it. I think a joint venue split b/w the new plaza and Durham Central Park would be perfect. That area is big enough.

[barry]

i'd rather spend my time arguing about whether Culture Crawl should be called Third Friday, or vice versa.

[Bull City Rising]

Ugh, Barry. You've brought up memories so painful I thought I had repressed them. I'm just happy someone's continuing to organize the thing -- if people don't like what it's called, they should pick their butts up from the computer desk and put on their own damn event and call it what they want to.

[DRR]

I like the ToD, but we aren't going to make it this year. Part of the appeal of the event is that it is something in our neighborhood. I just don't feel the connection to something I have to drive out to the airport for.

Oh well, maybe next year...

[Blazer Manpurse, BFA]

Okay, so the web site reveals that it won't be held in a soulless hotel meeting room, but rather a soulless hotel parking lot, so there's some good news. But this event also has some more strikes agin it:

1. "Comic magician," but no mimes
2. Where's the Zima sponsorship?
3. "Festival coins" seem as suspicious as that pinko currency the "Plenty"
4. Wimpy's Grill not participating

Internet porn sounds like it will win out again, alas.

[Bull City Rising]

Mmmm... Zima. Blazer, you're taking me back. I haven't had a good Zima since my last trip to the Zocalo.

Hey, as long as you're working with developers to dismantle, er, REASSEMBLE downtown, why don't you make a permanent home for the Taste of Durham Festival there?

[GK]

They've got a 'Mardi Gras parade' - in Durham, in a parking lot, in May. That's keepin' it real. I'm surprised that Blazer isn't galled by the omission of a Shillelagh carving tent.

[BM, BFA]

Crikey--I never even knew how to SPELL that damned word. But yeah, the esteemed GK is right! I'm torked!

And Kev, rest assured that the corporate overlords are aware of every need in Derm. Like the Deity, they HEAR every prayer, but only choose to ANSWER some of them (i.e. usually the ones that involve selling 1,000 square feet of space for about 200 large).

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

Imperial Center? Craptastic. Will there be pizza shooters and extreme nachos? Remind me to bring my flair.

[Michael Bacon]

Man, the Mardi Gras thing is just the tip of the iceberg, too. I was generally giving the benefit of the doubt on the ABCD list, but looking at their website... WOW. This thing has lame written all over it in great big letters.

Of the five main stage acts, three unabashedly fall into that category of yuppie-soothing ambiguous ethnicity, "world music." Bio Ritmo at least has a moderate following, even if I find their stuff repetitive and vaguely grating, but man, just the names of the two others. "Floating Stone" and "Nation Beat." They sound like they were made up by writers at the Onion. I had to dig deep to find a single damned Durham-based musician down at the bottom of one of the pages. (Give 'em credit, they got the excellent David DiGiuseppe, but they didn't even spell his name right. A few of the others might be Durham based without my knowing it, but clearly a lot aren't.)

In another section we're promised "The Largest Electric Slide and Line Dance in the Triangle." I'm at a complete loss -- I don't know where to start. Blazer, this one needs your special touch, I'm not worthy of it.

For the media sponsors, they managed to land the Clear Channel stations, along with NBC 17, whose main contribution to local journalism is ambulence chasing.

And for God's sake, the point of this thing is supposed to be the food, but look at the vendors! Four out of eighteen are George Bakitsias restaurants, at least five more are out of state chains (including, no joke, Cafe at Nordstrom), and one of them isn't even located in Durham. Another sponsor is Earth Fare, whose closest store is in Raleigh.

I think I could give them a hand with planning here. I'm pretty sure the following events would improve this thing significantly:

- Diet soda tasting
- Battle of the new age cover bands
- Extreme cubicle makeover
- Design your own fake European oval decal for your SUV
- Face painting available in all colors! Beige, tan, taupe, khaki, and beige!
- Celebrity appearances by Bob Saget, Lou Bega, John Rocker

I can't go on. My head hurts. It's too much.

[Michael Bacon]

Oh, and I forgot. Winter Carnival favorite ice sculpture contest... again, in May. In North Carolina.

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

How about a make your own hospital-cleaning-fluid bar? Choices:

-white lightning
-gasoline
-elevator hydraulic fluid
-mello yello

[Phil]

Sorry, Michael, to add more lack-of-fun, but David DiGiuseppe lives in Chapel Hill!

[DC]

Wow, this is the best sampling of chain store food I've seen outside of a mall food court! Huzzah!

[Andrew]

>>- Design your own fake European oval decal for your SUV

Hey now! I proudly display a red DRM oval sticker on my car, so that the other motorists know I'm not taking any shit from them.

My favorite fake sticker, though, is: FU

--ASE.

[Michael Bacon]

Crap, Phil, you're right...

My biggest concern with this thing is no longer that it isn't in downtown anymore, but that anyone's going to go to this thing and surmise that this crap is the best Durham has to offer!

[weege]

The date for the 2008 Taste of Banality has been announced and it's being held at the same RTP office park as last year. Sigh, guess I'll be skipping this year too. The list of food vendors hasn't been updated because the now defunct Grasshopper is still on there.

Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 11am to 7pm

http://www.tasteofdurham.org/festival/essentials.html

[Belstaff Coats]

I like ANMJ on FB & just subscribed to the email feed! :)