Taste of Olean

A Taste of Olean 2009, presented by Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce, National Grid Co. and the Chamber’s 37 Corporate Sponsors, was again a huge success with thousands of hungry palates making their annual pilgrimage to downtown Olean and sampling the area's best culinary offerings, great entertainment, and favorite beverages.

Meme Krahe Yanetsko of GOACC, stated, "The Taste of Olean had record attendance once again!  Three vendors ran out of food items due to the increased traffic that came to the taste and we ran out of tickets (had printed 40,000!) but had back ups on hand.  Even with the brief down pour, the community came out in numbers making the event a huge success and we are grateful for their support.  The change of date from September to July helped with the number of food vendors (21 from 18 last year) and the number of artists (34 from 23 last year).”

The GOACC and its Taste of Olean Event Committee honored four individuals with the 2009 Taste of Olean Hospitality Wall of Fame Awards.  The Hospitality Wall of Fame recognized individuals and/or businesses who have made a significant contribution and given exceptional service to the food service/ hospitality industry in the past and who may continue to do so. The third class of inductees to the 2009 Taste of Olean Hospitality Wall of Fame Awards program are: William “Bill” Augostini; Quinto and Dora Bagazzoli; Nicholas “Nick” Fratarcangelo; and Louis Marra.

Al Wager, National Grid Co. and Shelly Wolf, the official tasters for the Taste, proclaimed the Old Library Restaurant’s Smokehouse Chicken over Rice as the Tasters Choice Main Dish; Green Acres’ Marinated Shrimp Skewers as the Tasters Choice for appetizer; Tasters Choice dessert went to Beef n’ Barrel Restaurant’s  Apple Pie; Best Pizza was Napoli Pizza; the  Tasteful Healthy Option went to Whispering Mountain Lodge Restaurant’s Natural Chili and Tasters Choice Best Summer Drink went to Linger Longer Cafe ‘s Summer Splash Smoothie.

Shurfine/WPIG Backyard BBQ Area winner were Amber Sawaya of Olean and Leah Scanlon of Baltimore, MD winning a basket full of goodies donated by Shurfine.

Make Haste to the Taste 5K Race was hosted by the Olean High School Sports Boosters.  Winners included Tammy Putt, Overall Women; and Dakota Spencer, Overall Men.  Other winners had Luke Goodwill -- 18 and under; Ashley Sandau and Ryan Furman -- 19-29; Judy Maxson and Craig Maguire -- 30-39; Richard Goodwill -- 40-49; and Kathy Linden and William Weigel for 50-59.

Winners of the WIN Challenge, the Weight Loss Competition were All Female Team from Olean General Hospital -- Big Butts, captained by Jennie Reynolds; Co-Ed Team Eade’s Fitness 24/7 captained by Paul Eade; Couple Team While We Can of Nancy and Ed Allen; and Family Team from the ReHabilitation Center FAT Chance, captained by Linda Young.  Seventy-seven teams competed in this weight loss challenge.

The Chamber’s next event is the Seventh Annual Rally in the Valley scheduled for August 21-23, 2009.  For more information on the Taste of Olean, call Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce at 716-372-4433 or email taste@oleanny.com.