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WHY YOU SHOULD GO
The flavorful weekend will begin at 6 p.m. Friday with Shaggin' With a Taste, a community dance featuring Charleston shag disc jockey Jim Bowers, who will play some beach music to set the mood for the Lowcountry-style weekend. For the second year in a row, The Beaufort Shag Club will be on hand starting at 7 p.m. to teach the basics of South Carolina's official dance.
Of course, the biggest draw is the food.
"It's basically exactly what it's called -- a taste of Beaufort," said Main Street Beaufort, USA, executive director LaNelle Fabian. "A lot of people can't decide what restaurant they want to eat at because they're all so good. This is an opportunity to hit 15 of them in one day because they get served tastes."
New to the lineup this year is a 5K run starting at 8 a.m. Saturday in downtown Beaufort. The run will start on Bay Street in front of Freedom Park, go down Bay Street, over the Woods Memorial Bridge, down Meridian Road and turn back around to end where it began.
"(The run has) always been successful for the (Beaufort) Shrimp Festival ... We had people asking for it so we decided to add it," Fabian said.
To register for the run, go to www.active.com, e-mail info@downtownbeaufort.com or call 843-525-6644.
After the run, the main tasting event will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday. A variety of musicians, including Eric Daubert and Brandon Hage, Passafire, The Freeloaders and Reggae Infinity, will provide live music for the crowd. A children's area near the playground will keep the kids happy with slides and bounce houses.
THE FLAVORS
An array of local restaurants, including Plums, Bricks on Boundary, Barbara Jean's, Yes! Thai Indeed, Gilligan's Steamer and Raw Bar, Berry Island Cafe and Panini's Cafe, will offer all the samples your heart -- or stomach -- desires. A handful of restaurants will be serving up food Friday night, and the rest will come out Saturday.
Entrance to the park is free. Tickets must be purchased for food and drinks. Each ticket costs $1, and most food items cost between three and seven tickets. Sodas cost two tickets, beer three and wine five.
THE STATS
About 8,000 people attended last year's Taste of Beaufort, and organizers expect about 10,000 this time around, Fabian said.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Main Street Beaufort, USA -- a nonprofit partner of the City of Beaufort that organizes this weekend's event -- was looking for a fundraiser when it came up with the idea for A Taste of Beaufort more than 11 years ago. The festival originally was held on Bay Street as a way to showcase downtown merchants, but the event was moved to the waterfront park a few years ago to relieve traffic congestion.
Fabian said A Taste of Beaufort started out as a Saturday event, but organizers wanted to add Friday night to the lineup. She said they tried adding Friday night events a few times, but it never seemed to work until the addition of Shaggin' With a Taste last
year.
"We're looking for it to be even better this year," Fabian said. "It didn't take us long to decide that (Shaggin' With a Taste) would be part of the annual event."
