Bands expected to rock downtown Saturday night
Published in the September 17-30, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Morgan Hill Life File Photo
A volunteer with Gilroy Elks cooks up some tasty scampi at last year’s festival.
The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce has upped the ante in the quality of its vendors, entertainment and food selections at the 25th-annual Taste of Morgan Hill, which will be held Sept. 27 and 28. The popular downtown weekend festival is expected to bring in record crowds because of the predicted good weather as well as extensive marketing in social media and other media sources throughout the Bay Area.
With free admission to all Taste events, a primary draw will be the music, including an after-hours Taste Street Dance Concert on Saturday night. The concert had its inaugural last year and proved to be so successful by drawing between 3,000 and 4,000 people that it will become a Taste tradition, said Rich Firato, chair of the Chamber’s board of directors.
The street dance starts at 4 p.m. with the band Aja Vu playing Steely Dan and Chicago hits, followed by Shane Dwight at 6 p.m. and Entourage bringing a mischievous close to the evening starting at 8 p.m.
“Entertainment is really going to be spectacular,” Firato said. “What the Chamber is trying to do is get the people to come to listen to the bands. You’re not going to want to leave because these bands are just crowd-pleasers. The intent of this year’s Taste of Morgan Hill is that you’re not going to want to leave in an hour. You’re not just going to walk from one end to other end and get in your car and go home. You’re going to stay put because it’s the place to be Saturday and Sunday.”
Food, beer and South Valley wine will also be part of the fun at this year’s Taste. The Gilroy Elks Club is returning with its selection of scampi and Mansmith will be providing its signature steak sandwiches. There’ll be a variety of other cuisine throughout the downtown for visitors to sample.
Morgan Hill Life file photo
Festival-goers wander through downtown Morgan Hill during last year’s Taste of Morgan hill.
New at this year’s Taste is a selection of food items made in Morgan Hill. The Localvore Haven booth, organized by local resident Liza Garibaldi, will be located in the Sinaloa Mexican Restaurant parking lot and will provide visitors with a chance to purchase baked goods, honey, jellies and other unique items produced by local residents.
“We have a literal taste of Morgan Hill,” said John Horner, CEO and president of the Chamber. “This is all stuff locally made that you’re not going to find anywhere else.”
For people who enjoy browsing among the vendor booths, this year’s Taste promises to hold a better selection of arts and crafts items that will help visitors start their holiday shopping early. The staff at the Chamber went to other festivals throughout the year to seek out high quality vendors and encourage them to set up booths at this year’s Taste, Horner said.
“Janis (McDonald) in particular has really worked to find ways to bring in more diverse arts and crafts vendors,” he said. “We’ll have at least twice as many as we’ve had in recent years. She’s doing it partly after a personal fashion. Last year she said, ‘I don’t like the (stuff) we have.’”
The higher quality of arts and crafts vendors for this year’s Taste is part of a strategy to upgrade the festival’s reputation in the Bay Area and encourage more people to attend, Firato said.
“They’ll have arts and crafts that you’ll want to purchase, not just walk by and say, “Look at that,’” He said. “You’re going to stop and buy things this time because of the quality of the arts and crafts. That’s something that’s been lacking at the Taste for the last five or six years.”
This year’s Taste will also enhance its reputation by having an improved Kids Zone play area with a slide, a rock-climbing wall, pony rides, games and other fun attractions organized by Chamber board member Sunday Minnich, who also serves as the executive director of the Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras in May.
“It’s a great place for the kids to come and have fun for hours playing around and being active,” Firato said. “If I had grandchildren, I would be bringing them here.”
Annual traditions for the Taste, the Car Show at the southern end of downtown and the South Valley Quilt Association’s quilt show inside the Community and Cultural Center will be popular with visitors who want to see flashy chrome or artistic fabric patterns.
“This year we’re really refining the Taste with a lot of new elements,” Horner said. “We’re really fine-tuning it as something that people have already come to know and love. It’s a family-friendly good time with something for everyone. There’s quilts, there’s cars, there’s food, there’s music, there’s beer, there’s wine. It looks like we’re going to have beautiful weather, and it’s an interesting setting. And it’s free! Unlike many festivals, there’s no gate charge, there’s no parking charge. You don’t have a big hit on the family purse just to come in and check it out.”
