–LAKEPORT — The 11th annual “Taste of Lakeport” is just around the corner.
Beth Havrilla, event coordinator of Lake Event Design who was hired by the Lakeport Main Street Association to plan the event for the first time this year, said the 17 businesses on Main Street will open their doors for extended hours Friday Aug. 24 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., with most of the locations hosting a local restaurant and winery, the two working in tandem to pair food with wine.
“The Taste of Lakeport gives people an opportunity to learn what wine goes well with what food, and they can also meet local business owners and shop in the stores while they are wine tasting,” said Havrilla.
The event, according to Havrilla, is geared towards tourists, while also attracting a large local population interested in learning about restaurants, wineries, and stores. One of the founders of the event, Karen Mackey, owner of the Lakeport English Inn, said that with few outlets for restaurant, wine, or business reviews to circulate, it is challenging to spread the word about the business and culinary scene in Lake County.
“That”s the key purpose of it, initially the interest was exposure for the businesses but it turned out to work equally as well for the wineries and restaurants?it used to be that the internet wasn”t a big thing, but now it is a big part of promotion for the event and for businesses in general,” said Mackey.
The event idea sprung from the original Lakeport Main Street Association members more than a decade ago. Patterned after a similar event in Ukiah, local car dealership owner Kathy Fowler became active in Lake County as well as Ukiah, and the ideas from the neighboring county traveled to Lakeport, according to Mackey.
“In the early days very few stores were involved and it poured down rain. We held the first one in February, but then we moved the date and each year it grew and grew,” said Mackey, who added that while the first event attracted about 250 patrons, this Friday”s will attract up to 650.
With tickets selling pre-sale for $20 and $30 the day of the event, the sale of 600 tickets for the event could garner $15,000, not to mention the additional money out-of-towners will pour into local industry.
It does not cost businesses anything to participate in the event, according to Havrilla. But they do have to come up with “600 pieces of whatever” to give to the patrons, Mackey said.
“It”s very useful from the side of the business person downtown, it”s an excellent way for locals and visitors to see what we have, and it”s still very inexpensive. I advertised it in the Inn and had people making reservations just for the purpose of going to Taste of Lakeport,” said Mackey.
Mackey says the event has the qualities that will make it a mainstay to see for years to come. “There have been other events that have fallen off, but the Taste of Lakeport lets everyone wander around, see wonderful shops, meet local people, taste great food, you can go with friends or you can pick up your wine glass and quietly wander around, so it appeals to everybody?I think that if Lake County is around in 100 years, the taste of Lakeport will be around in 100 years.”
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