By Tina Alvey
LEWISBURG — The remarkable luck of the Taste of Our Towns food festival held true Saturday, as the predicted rain held off and the crowd built steadily through the day. Despite cloudy skies, thousands thronged the streets of the county seat, sampling an assortment of tasty dishes and catching up with friends old and new.
For the first time this year, patrons were required to purchase TOOT tokens to exchange for food, rather than just paying cash at each booth. The new system appeared to be working smoothly, according to Cindy Wickline of City National Bank, who manned one of three token booths scattered through the downtown festival area.
“I got here about 9:30,” Wickline said Saturday morning at around 11, “and I’ve been selling tokens pretty steadily since then. I’ve already had people come back for more,” she said with a laugh.
A fundraiser for Carnegie Hall, TOOT also provides a platform for such agencies as the Greenbrier Humane Society, HospiceCare and the Greenbrier County Health Department to distribute information and for civic organizations to raise money for their coffers.
PEO Chapter O, a philanthropic and educational organization, has participated in TOOT 24 of the event’s 25 years, according to member Amy Meadows.
“We fund local scholarships and funnel money we raise here to other local philanthropic causes,” she said.
As many as 25 members of Chapter O were expected to help out at the TOOT booth Saturday, according to member Linda Smith.
“This is our major fundraiser,” Smith pointed out.
The PEO ladies were selling bags of chocolate toffee crunch they had made from a recipe provided by member Lisa Vaughn. The confection won an award at this spring’s Lewisburg Chocolate Festival.
Anthony Correctional Center is a relative newcomer as a TOOT vendor, offering caramel apples and cookies prepared by offenders in the facility’s food service class. Last year, ACC’s first at TOOT, sales of cinnamon rolls raised about $120 which was donated to the Family Refuge Center, as this year’s proceeds will be, said Schalane Brown, intake supervisor at Anthony.
Warden Teresa McCourt said the TOOT booth is one of a number of similar projects the youthful offender facility participates in each year.
“We take a victim-centered approach in our vocational programs,” McCourt explained. “It’s based on accountability and how the offenders can make amends. It gives them a way to pay back the community for their offenses.”
As always, the food was the star of the 25th annual TOOT festival. The offerings included everything from burgers and corn dogs to fresh baked bread and the General Lewis Inn’s famous pecan pie.
Wolf Creek Gallery’s booth was one of the more popular stops for festival-goers, and one of the most expensive with an $8 sandwich billed as “Chef Wagner’s famous crab cake.” Topped with tangy cole slaw, the crab cake sandwich was the focus of enthusiastic chatter throughout the crowd.
Another crowd favorite was The Greenbrier Sporting Club’s shrimp and grits offering. Even the presentation of the dish looked restaurant-ready, with two plump skewered shrimp and three strips of spicy chorizo sausage resting atop a creamy bed of cheese-kissed grits. A garnish of tender pea shoots from a local farm provided a fresh green counterpoint to the rich southern creation.
— E-mail: talvey@register-herald.com
