Recap of Taste of Florence 2012
Discussing the Special Judging Results
Good evening, everyone. We just got home from Taste of Florence 2012 and we’re still buzzing with excitement. I think the organizers, exhibitors, and sponsors hit one out of the park again. The attendance seemed like it exceeded last year’s 3,500 by quite a bit and the arena held everyone without the congestion of last year. The food was wonderful and the entertainment was as well. I didn’t overhear a single complaint. What do you think?
If you attended the event tonight, please add your comments below. We’d love to hear from you.
Before I finally hit the hay tonight, I thought I would publish a quick list of our PeeDeeFoodie.com Booth Prize Winners, as well as a list of the Special judging Category Winners and the first of what will be several event Photo Galleries. I hope you enjoy and share this brief recap with friends and family, so that they can share their impressions with us as well.
PeeDeeFoodie.com Booth Prize Winners
To everyone who stopped by our PeeDeeFoodie.com booth tonight, we say “Thank You!” We were thrilled to see you. It’s always a joy to be a part of community events, especially events like Taste of Florence where fellow foodies will be in attendance. I’ll bet we signed-up nearly 100 new newsletter subscribers tonight. As part of that sign-up process, each person was entered into our prize drawings. The winners, which were announced by the Emcee on the stage during the event, were as follows:
• SweetLeigh’s Cakes & Treats Gift Certificate — Winner was Dave B.
• Klein Style Photography Gift Certificate — Winner was Wendy A.
• Rebel Pie Gift Certificate — Winner was Robin L.
• Top Hat Special-Teas Gift Certificate — Winner was Tracy S.
• Victor’s Bistro & Catering Gift Certificate — Winner was Angela H.
• Midnight Rooster Gift Certificate — Winner was Debbie H.
• Hobnob Gourmet Gift Basket — Winner was Allene G.
• Pee Dee Food Show Interview Episode — Winner was Lula’s Coffee Company
Melissa with the Winner of the Hobnob Gourmet Gift Basket
We’d like to thank the owners of the businesses represented above for their generosity in rewarding PeeDeeFoodie.com readers for being part of our online community. If we can be of service to you or your business, please contact us.
Special Judging Category Winners
As you know, I was honored to be one of the special judges for the competition portion of the event. I’ll bet we tasted nearly 60 different appetizers, entrees, and desserts. It was overwhelming at times, but a whole lot of fun. More on that in a future post, but for now I’m pleased to share the names of the Special Judging Category Winners as calculated using the total scores of the three judges on hand:
Appetizers
1. Fatz Cafe
2. Southern Hops
3. Victor’s Bistro
Entrees
1. RedBone Alley
2. Florence Civic Center
3. Stefano’s
Desserts
1. Let Them Eat Cake!
2. SweetLeigh’s
3. Stefano’s
Note that other categories of winners including Kids Choice and Peoples Choice will be discussed in a future blog post here on PeeDeeFoodie.com. For now, I am limiting this article to the formal judging winners for sake of brevity. Congratulations to all the winners and to every exhibitor there tonight. Your support for this event, as well as for our rich Pee Dee food culture was appreciated by everyone there, I know.
First Look Photo Gallery
Below are one set of photos taken tonight. We’ve got lots more to share with you in the coming days, so keep checking back for updates.
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- Discussing the Special Judging Results
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- Melissa with the Winner of the Hobnob Gourmet Gift Basket
Category: First Look, Taste of Florence
About the Author
Kevin Barron is a husband, father, self-described geek, and enthusiastic founder of PeeDeeFoodie.com. He also hosts its companion podcast, the Pee Dee Food Show, which can be found on iTunes and the blog. Learn more about Kevin under the Contributors tab above.Thanks for reading PeeDeeFoodie.com™
This looks so fun- I'm kinda jealous because the event has grown so much and you got to eat some amazing looking dishes. Really thankful for some new additions when it comes to Pee Dee restaurants. I really want to visit some of the new downtown places when I come to visit in a few weeks.
