By Carson Lambert

clambert@civitasmedia.com

Enoree River Winery purveying their fare at last year’s Taste of Newberry.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Enoree-River-Winery.jpgEnoree River Winery purveying their fare at last year’s Taste of Newberry. File photo | The Newberry Observer

NEWBERRY — The city’s annual Taste of Newberry is right around the corner and more vendors are still being sought to fill out the event’s roster.

Unlike previous years the 2016 edition, slated for May 20, is open to all Newberry County restaurants and applications, which can be found at www.tasteofnewberry.com, are due May 5.

“It was originally thought up and planned to just be an event where people could come and try samples of food, beer and wine from local restaurants and vendors,” said Mary Alex Kopp of the city’s parks and recreation department. “We’re still carrying that torch but we’ve just expanded it to Newberry County as a whole so that we could increase our vendor number.”

While all adult beverage slots have been filled, the city still has openings for food vendors which can be reserved at no cost.

“The whole purpose is for it to be a promotional event and to get people excited. That’s essentially why we don’t charge for the spaces is we want it to be open to any and every restaurant within the county limits,” Kopp said.

Another difference with this year’s event is its location on the calendar, roughly a month ahead of its typical spot.

“Traditionally it was held in mid to late June,” said Kopp. “Last year was the last year we did that because the heat got to be so extreme on the day that was chosen that we actually had a couple of restaurants back out.”

Also validating the date change, Kopp said, is the notion that many people are vacationing during the summer months which could conceivably lessen turnout.

Additional incentive for local restaurants to sign up is WIS-TV will be on the scene to premier their inaugural Ten in Your Town news segment.

“They got my press release about Taste of Newberry and they are wanting to use our event as the first event that they go to for this segment,” Kopp said.

She said WIS will be looking to do several live segments over the course of the evening and will be featuring the restaurants in attendance.

Reach Carson Lambert at 803-276-0625, ext. 1868, or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.