By By Janet Little Cooper
The Taste of the South is finally here. In only three short days, festival goers will be able to taste a variety of scrumptious treats from tasty desserts to a main entr/e.
The third annual Taste of the South food festival, sponsored by the 2004 Leadership Atmore Class is scheduled to take place this Saturday in Heritage Park from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Class members were a little anxious last week as they watched Tropical Storm Chris develop in the Atlantic, but their concerns have eased with forecast of clear skies.
The event will feature more than a dozen food vendors seeking the Best Taste of the South award which will be presented to the vendor with the best food at the event.
Class president, Sharon Smith announced the names of the teams competing this year. They are as follows: Atmore Lion's Club, Gold's Barbeque, Trinity Episcopal Church, Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce, McElhaney's, United Bank, Carl Butler, Walt Butler, Atmore Women's Club, First National Bank &Trust, David's Catfish and Pepsi.
McElhaney's was awarded the inaugural Best Taste of the South award two years ago for their popular shrimp and grits. David's Catfish walked away with the award last year with a hearty seafood gumbo and shrimp kabobs. Last years event also saw the addition of two new categories: Best Taste Dessert and Best Decorated Booth.
"It was a wonderful turnout last year," Smith said. "We had a lot of fun and it was nice to see a lot of the community have a good time. We had a wonderful turnout."
There will also be entertainment on hand to keep the crowd busy.
Smith said that Chuck Stevens would take to the stage again along with Lana Langford and the Diamondback band.
"We will have a lot of tents set up with chairs for people to sit back and enjoy," Smith said. "They don't need to bring anything other than their appetite."
Tickets for the event are $10. Each ticket includes five taste-testing tickets, which are to be used for sampling at five vendor booths.
Taste of the South was the Leadership Atmore Class of 2004's project two years ago. Smith said the graduates decided to have a project that continued throughout the years.
"Instead of doing something like a playground or a sign, we wanted to do something for the community that would help benefit Atmore every year. We're just going to plan to do the Taste of the South every year until we grow old."
All proceeds from the event will be donated the Atmore Chamber of Commerce. In the inaugural year the group donated a total of $3,000 to the Chamber and then $4,000 last year.