Rain Won't Delay MB Taste

The Taste of Manhattan Beach will be held under tents Sunday, according to Annie Walker, Manhattan Beach centennial committee member in charge of centennial celebration events.

The committee had hoped for sunny skies but with a prediction of rain gaining percentage points as the week progressed, members decided to spend $20,000 for tents to shield participants from inclement weather, Walker said Friday.

"Mother Nature is forcing her hand on us," Walker told Manhattan Beach Patch. "By the time rain became a threat, the restaurants had already planned their food."

Indeed, the show will go on for 500 ticketholders, some 23 restaurant/food businesses, volunteers, vendors, information booth staff, security and other hired hands, and people who turn out to visit the free area.

The free area will include an Eco-Market at the corner of Highland Avenue and 13th Street but will not include the free public farmers market area the committee had hoped for. Walker said the threatening weather is keeping farmers away.

A cooking demonstration for kids [part of the paid event] also won't happen, she noted. 

Inside the ticketed area, attendees will be able to see the wares of Manhattan Beach resident James Gill, who will be selling his centennial coins, artist Jan Davidson, and Jane Centofante and artist Gloria Judson, who will be selling their book, Manhattan Beach: A California Beach Town. The centennial committee will also be selling commemorative merchandise and Waste Management and Providence Little Company of Mary medical will have a booth inside the paid area.

Walker hopes to be able to exhibit the winning student art from the annual Neptunian Woman's Club contest, which this year featured a historical category in honor of MB's centennial year, in the free public area and should know sometime Saturday if that is the case. The Taste will also include a lounge for centennial sponsors. 

People who purchased their tickets can pick them up at Will Call at the top of the escalator from the parking garage in Metlox Plaza, near Le Pain Quotidien. From there, it will be a short walk into the tented area on 13th Street.

Sponsors, volunteers, centennial affiliated people and media should pick up their tickets at a Will Call in the Civic Center Plaza at , between the / building and city hall and public .

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