I will admit that I was crazy excited to learn that the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) — our exclusive webcast partner for WCNT-tv — was getting ready to sign off on having the New Tampa Rotary Club (which meets Fridays for breakfast at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club) put on the next Taste of New Tampa.
Sadly, I thought that official announcement was coming a few months ago…and then, a few weeks ago.
Well, on Sept. 14, it became official. There will be a 21st Taste of New Tampa — and Wesley Chapel — on Saturday, March 18, 2017!
But somehow, the bigger news for all of us who plan to dive headfirst into bringing back one of our area’s most popular single-day events than the fact that there finally will be another Taste is the location for the event — Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI)!
FHCI co-owner/developer Gordie Zimmerman may not have been able to be on-hand for the signing ceremony between the WCCC and the New Tampa Rotary, but Zimmerman stepped up to the plate in a big way by agreeing to bring the event primarily back indoors for the first time since the first Taste back in 1994 (when it was held in and outside of Hunter’s Green Country Club), instead of outside in what has too often been either sweltering heat or sideways-falling, driving rain.
The signing ceremony, held at the Chamber office in The Grove at Wesley Chapel, featured New Tampa Rotary president Brice Wolford and WCCC Board chair Tracy Clouser signing off on a document that took a little while to finalize, but will definitely prove to be worth the wait for both the organizers and the likely thousands of attendees who will be on hand to help raise money for the New Tampa Rotary’s selected charities.
Also at the signing ceremony were Chamber president and CEO Hope Allen and WCCC ambassadors (and New Tampa Rotary Club members) James Carner and Craig Miller. Yes, that is the same Craig Miller of Full Throttle Intermedia who also is my partner on WCNT-tv.
Putting Together A Team
The New Tampa Rotary is already putting together a team of volunteers to help ensure the success of the event. I have agreed to be the Taste restaurant coordinator, while former Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel historian (who also has been a past Rotary District Governor) David West of Signarama of New Tampa, who is now a member of the New Tampa Rotary, will be the sponsorship coordinator. New Tampa Rotary member Karen Frashier will be among those responsible for marketing the event and more announcements will come in the future.
The 2017 Taste is only 25 weeks (a little more than six months) away, so the organizers need to move quickly to ensure that the first to be held since 2014 (on one of those sideways-rain days, when it was held in Primrose Park off Commerce Park Blvd. in Tampa Palms). I handled the restaurants for that event and there were 30 committed at one point, but the reports of likely bad weather that day caused numerous day- and week-of-the-event cancellations. That shouldn’t be a problem inside the 150,000-sq.-ft. FHCI — which will be the largest skating facility south of New York when it opens.
“It’s a great opportunity to revive an amazing event,” Allen said after the signing ceremony. “The Chamber is getting out of the business of putting on major events like these, so it was great that the New Tampa Rotary stepped up to bring back the Taste.” The Chamber also has divested itself of its own Fall Festival, which will have its 12th edition put on this year at The Grove shopping center the weekend of October 29-30. by Simply Events, which was introduced at the WCCC’s September business breakfast.
Look for more updates about the Taste in these pages, at WCNeighborhoodNews.com and on future episodes of WCNT-tv. We also will post information for those who want to help with putting on the event.
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