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Taste of the Town is back this year after being canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19. 

The Junior Service League of LaGrange is hosting Troup County’s fourth annual food festival event on Saturday, April 10 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Overlook Plaza.

Kristen Ferguson, Taste of Town event chair, said over the last four years, the event has generated nearly $40,000 in food and beverage sales and with the help of sponsors, donations and vendor sales. She noted that over $21,000 in proceeds have gone to Circles of Troup County and Safe Families for Children. Although last year’s event was canceled, JSL was still able to donate a contribution to Safe Families for Children. 

“We’re super thankful that we get to actually have the event this year, and then it will also support them again this year,” Ferguson said. “Something new this year is we’re extending the event to Byron Hurst Street. With COVID, we just want to have as much spacing as possible. In 2019, we had somewhere close to 2,000 patrons, and it was really tight so we decided to expand.” 

Fergusons said more vendors can expand to the side of street now, and it will allow for more patrons to taste, shop and watch a live band. Taste of the Town is also LaGrange’s first and only exclusive community-wide food festival.

Admission is free and each vendor will feature its own menu and will handle cash and card transactions at their individual tent or food truck. 

“However, we will encourage a monetary donation at the entrance to benefit Safe Families for Children,” Ferguson said. 

SFFC is a non-profit program of Twin Cedars Youth and Family Services, that partners with the church to temporarily care for at-risk children, while strengthening families in crisis.

Many of the vendors include local restaurants and food trucks in LaGrange that will have their food for sale. To see a full list of vendors, visit the Taste of Town event page on Facebook. 

“Ultimately, the goal is to bring awareness to restaurants and local businesses and showcase their offerings,” Ferguson said. “We also want to help support local nonprofit organizations in our community. Who doesn’t want to help children in need?” 

Ferguson added that JSL’s goal is to not only to fill a gap in the local event scene by creating an event that was the first of its kind but to create a community and platform to support independent small businesses and raise awareness of our community’s needs.

“It’s just a really great opportunity to come out and support our local community and the children in our community but also our restaurant industry, who took a massive hit during COVID,” Ferguson said. “I think it’s a great way to kind of regenerate our local community and also have a really good time doing it. We really hope to see a large crowd this year.”

For more information about the event or JSL, visit www.jsloflagrange.com.