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Residents wait to enter the Taste of Parkersburg event Saturday at Bicentennial Park in downtown Parkersburg. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
PARKERSBURG — Hundreds of locals gathered at Bicentennial Park for the annual Taste of Parkersburg event Saturday.
Sixteen food vendors serving everything from coffee to seafood to Filipino fare were represented, along with 17 wine vendors and three beer trucks.
One of the first-time participants was The Lost Anchor of Vienna, which opened in April 2022, said owner Rick Perkins.
“Last year we didn’t know about it,” he said. “This year, we are the largest independently owned restaurant in the area.”
Perkins said he wished he’d brought more tables due to the magnitude of the event. He also said the items the restaurant brought, such as salmon flatbread and key lime cheesecake, were hard to prepare on a mobile site, but he wanted to show the quality of the food.
Employees of the Parkersburg Brewing Company serve a customer during the Taste of Parkersburg Saturday in Bicentennial Park. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
Another first-time participant was The Bodega in Vienna.
“(Event organizer Downtown PKB) reached out to us and invited us,” owner Jennifer Wright said.
Wright said she was happy to attend because the event showcased local businesses.
“It’s a coming together of small business owners,” she said. “It also allows people to sample what we have to offer.”
One of the items the Bodega sold was a coffee drink called Jamaican Me Crazy, which has caramel, vanilla and Jamaican rum flavoring. Wright said it’s one of their best-selling drinks.
Local group The Hopewell performed at the Taste of Parkersburg Saturday in Bicentennial Park. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
One restaurant representing the downtown area was Parkersburg Brewing Company on Market Street. Kitchen Manager Dusty Stanley said they had two stands at the event — one for food and one for beer offerings.
“Our best-selling item is our pulled pork slider with apple slaw,” he said. “People like it because it’s different.”
Several wine vendors, such as Wine Down on Market, and local West Virginia wineries such Chestnut Ridge, Toscano in Appalachia and Winetree Vineyards also participated.
Owner Teresa Holcomb of Chestnut Ridge in Spencer said she has attended Taste of Parkersburg for several years. She said her wine offerings could appeal to a variety of taste buds.
“I make a wine for everyone,” she said. “We make a dry red, a semi-dry white and semi-sweet ones.”
From left, owner Cynthia Morris, Samantha Allen and Kimberly Bradley from the Little Stir pose with this year’s bakery offerings at the Taste of Parkersburg Saturday. Their menu included fudge cake, strawberry shortcake, and raspberry filled cupcakes. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
Holcomb said different flavors sell in different times of year, depending on the season.
For entertainment, local music duo The Hopewell, consisting of Traci Nichols and Justin Arthur, performed during the first part of the event.
“I wish I hadn’t signed up to play the 4:30 to 7 p.m. slot with all of this food surrounding me,” Arthur joked.
After a break from 7:30 to 8:00, the Troubadours performed until 11 p.m.
Kristen Hainkel can be contacted at khainkel@newsandsentinel.com
From left, employees Carly Davis and Tori McKnight pose with owner Jennifer Wright from the Bodega at the Taste of Parkersburg Saturday. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
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