Arts and bites: Taste of Chewelah adds more restaurants to its offerings
Taste of Chewelah returns bigger than ever this year, featuring 12 taste providers, a variety of musicians and a silent art auction.
Tickets cost $20 for the Sept. 12 event, and all sales benefit the Chewelah Arts Guild, said Sally Beane, Chewelah Arts Guild member and Taste of Chewelah committee member.
Beane cautions the public to only purchase their tickets from authorized sources – Valley Drug Co., Aker’s United Drug or online at chewelahartsguild.org – because counterfeit tickets were sold by scammers last year.
“That’s why we were cautioning people to only buy them from a friend or from the outlets named,” Beane said. “But we thought, well, maybe that’s a sign of how popular it’s gotten that somebody could actually scam people about it.”
In order to allow restaurants to adequately prepare for the event, tickets are limited to 250 participants, but children 9 and under can sample for free.
From 4:30 to 7 p.m., participants can stroll Main Avenue, stopping by Salt Bistro, Monica’s Buttermilk Kitchen, Fired Up Pizza, Yale Press, Sportsman Bar and Grill, the Bread Box, Lola’s Good Eats, Quartzite Brewing Co. and Andie’s Sandwich and Sports. Westside Pizza, on Park Street, will also be serving bites. Some restaurants will be serving bites inside their space, while others directly outside, Beane said.
“We offer to pay them for the ingredients, but almost none of them ever actually bill us for those ingredients,” Beane said. “We’re very grateful for their gracious donation in doing that. However, it does benefit them as well, because people that haven’t tried their restaurant get a chance to try it and often come back for a full dinner.”
Even though they aren’t located close to the event, Mistequa Hotel Casino Restaurant will participate by serving out of Andie’s Sandwich and Sports, and both Rusty Putter Bar & Grille and 395 Coffee will serve out of Quartzite Brewing Co.
Andie’s Sandwich and Sports is one of the event newcomers this year. Owner Andrea Frost said last year her restaurant was just opening when Taste took place.
“Definitely this year wanted to make sure that we could be a part of it because it is quite the the hopping event around here,” Frost said. “… Since everyone’s doing snack-size plates, everybody gets to have a little bit of everything and then it really just highlights the specialties that all the different places like to emphasize.”
Beane added that many people end up buying drinks while floating from restaurant to restaurant. Taste is community-funded; the musicians at the various stops are playing for free, as well. The art for the silent art auction is donated, and the auction takes place at Quartzite Brewing Co. Bids are open from 5 to 8:30 p.m., with winners announced shortly thereafter.
“There’s usually some pretty intense bidding that goes on for these objects, because they are nice pieces that have been donated by Guild members out of their own private collections or by the artists themselves,” Beane said. “But even though it is pretty intense bidding, I think people still walk away with some good bargains.”
Taste of Chewelah has been taking place since 2015, though it took a break during the pandemic.
With ticket sales and the art auction, Beane said the Chewelah Arts Guild made close to $7,000 from the event last year. This event funds most of the programming the Chewelah Arts Guild does for the rest of the year, including activities at the Children’s Pavilion, the quilt show, the community art show, the winter music concert and more.
“Many of the events just break even,” Beane said. “We’re really doing it for the community. So, this is the main one that actually brings in money to support the year.”