Myrtle Beach Food and Wine Festival, May 2010?

Alright, we just might be onto something here. I met last week with Kara-Anne Serradimigni who is producing the Taste Gourmet Expo May 21-23, 2010 at the Myrtle beach Convention Center. We think that there is room to expand on the weekend, make it a destination for culinary tourists. Here are some ideas that I had
Events outside of the Taste show (to not compete but to take place before, after, or on evenings during Taste show)
I am thinking from the perspective of a tourist, what will engage them for a long weekend or week. What will they want to do in Myrtle Beach in addition to the Taste show?
restaurant promotions
winemaker dinners
progressive dinners
nightly after party at different bars
concert at Broadway, market commons, or myrtle square mall
"happy hour" wine tastings in select hotels
beach party
culinary tours to oyster beds, clam beds, farms, shrimp docks, etc.
complimentary food and wine at select golf courses

I am also meeting with James Clark and a few others later this week to discuss. I’ll keep you informed!

Good-Bye Bike Rallies

OK, what’s done is done. We can not rewind the clock and make everything nice with the bikers. I think that we, as a community, need to move on and plan to attract business to our area in May (and other times of the year).

We need to attract people, people who don’t have kids in school in May. I would love to see us have a PGA tournament but have no idea how that would happen. I could see a sand sculpture competition or other beach centric attraction. Not enough surf for that unfortunately. Maybe Freestyle Park could do a mini X Games in May?

What I do think could work is a Myrtle Beach Food and Wine Festival, to rival Charleston, Miami, or Aspen. There is already a gourmet food and wine show planned for the convention center in may 2010 called Taste. The ACF is going to hold a culinary competition in conjunction and I have heard talk of a BBQ competition as well. I think that the restaurant community could join in; offering promotions for a 7-10 day period in participating restaurants and possibly do winemaker dinners as well. There could also be gala charity dinners with celebrity chefs, similar to the one at the High Museum Wine Auction that I catered for four years.

I, for one, am going to look forward and figure this out. The bikers are not coming back. I think the rallies will get smaller and smaller and die out. I saw the same thing happen with Freak-nik in Atlanta. Let’s embrace the future and plan for it so we can all succeed.

culinary magic

I put together bacon, beets, and balsamic the other day and it was amazing. The bacon was house cured from a Caw Caw Creek pig, true aged balsamic, and roasted beets. Just thought I would share!