The 13th annual Taste of Montgomery County is expected to draw crowds to the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum on Saturday. The event runs from noon to 10 p.m. and includes a variety of food and beverage vendors and entertainment.
The 13th Annual Taste of Montgomery County arrives Saturday and the variety of foods being offered this year is sure to please almost every palate. It’s become one of the area’s most anticipated annual festivals, but the Taste of Montgomery County also fulfills an important role: the Taste is the largest fundraiser for the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum, located on the grounds in Crawfordsville where Lew Wallace penned his masterwork, Ben-Hur.
This year’s Taste features five live musical acts. Laughing Jack (1 p.m.) plays Irish, American and British ballads and sea shanties. Jazz Elements (3:15 p.m.) performs songs from the Great American Songbook. Maddie and the Roadies (4:30 p.m.) will cover current and classic hits in pop, country and R&B. Singer/songwriter Nick Ivanovich plays in on the lawn at 6:45 p.m. Django Knight headlines at 8 p.m. with funk rock and blues.
The Taste will feature several new vendors this year — Bravo Fernandez, Francis & Mount, Hoosier Ice Queen, Jack’s Donuts, Pastries Plus, Sugar Creek Winery, The Warehouse Bakery and Wildfire348. The Taste provides local exposure to new restaurants and is a great opportunity for the community to see what they have to offer.
Joining the Taste line-up for the first time is Bravo Fernandez, with tacos asada and tacos gringos. Another new Taste vendor, Francis & Mount, will be serving shrimp skewers, steak skewers, hummus and pita, wine and domestic beer. Pastries Plus will have donuts, bread and bagels. Wildfire348 will serve several types of wood-fired pizza, including three-cheese, Italian and pepperoni honey pie.
The variety of foods offered at the Taste will not disappoint. Highlights of the Taste menu include dahl-coconut lentils (Juniper Spoon), sushi rolls (China Inn) and muffuletta sandwiches (Shannon Family Farms). Other main dishes you won’t want to miss include tenderloin sliders and chicken tenders from Sunoco Midwest Clean Fuel and pulled pork and brats from Hawg Wild.
Sweet treats and desserts include donuts and donut holes from Pastries Plus, dessert pizza from Wildfire 248, and funnel cake fries from Sunoco Midwest Clean Fuel. The Lew Wallace Study Preservation Society will serve soft drinks and water. All proceeds from Lew Wallace Study drink sales directly benefit the museum.
Coal Creek Cellars Winery will be offering wine tastings and wine by the glass. Backstep Brewing Company joins the Taste lineup again. Francis & Mount will be serving wine and domestic beer. Sugar Creek Winery, a first-time Taste participant, will have wine tastings.
The Taste of Montgomery County takes place from noon to 10 p.m. at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum, 200 Wallace Ave. Tickets for the Taste are now on sale at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum, Milligan’s Flowers & Gifts, the Montgomery County Visitors Bureau and the Crawfordsville Community Center. Advance tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for students; on the day of the Taste, tickets will be $7 for adults and $3 for students. To download and print the full menu and get more information about the Taste, visit the website at TasteOfMontgomeryCounty.com/food.
The site of the Taste was once Gen. Wallace’s backyard, lying just north of his home on Wabash Avenue. Many people attending the Taste don’t realize that the area near the General’s bronze statue, where hundreds of Taste-goers will congregate this weekend to hear the great live music beneath the shade, was once the site where Gen. Wallace set up his rocking chair under the spread of a giant beech tree, to work on his writing in peace and solitude. Wallace wrote a significant portion of Ben-Hur under this tree, known as the Ben-Hur Beech Tree.
The General’s Study building is one of the gems of Crawfordsville and has seen visitors from around the globe for more than 100 years. The Study is filled with the General’s original artifacts and personal memorabilia, most of which have been in the Museum’s collection since Wallace’s death in 1905.
All revenues from admission ticket sales will fund the museum’s extensive programming and annual exhibit. This year the museum’s annual exhibit focuses on Lew and Susan Wallace’s worldwide travel. Museum programming in 2019 includes the Hoosier Authors Book Club, the Dr. Howard Miller Lecture Series and summer youth camp. Last year, the museum provided educational programs for 1,157 adults and children on-site and 375 off-site, in addition to the daily tours.
