Students miss out on tasty event

Author: Tamara Hilmes

The white tops of the tents set up in the Town Green on Saturday beckoned to students to come and sample some of what members of the Middlebury Business Association have to offer, though with minimal success. Various local businesses set up booths manned by representatives and loaded with free goodies for those who gathered at the three-hour event. Students who attended scored tons of free treats ranging from Broccoli and Chicken pizza from Green Peppers and cinnamon sugar bagels from Middlebury Bagel and Delicatessen to soap samples from the Middlebury Inn's new spa services. Students could also enter a free raffle for the chance to win even more complimentary gifts.

Sarah Emmons '09 and Jessica Clayton '09 were among the Middlebury students who showed up to wander through the tents and lounge on the grass near the gazebo. Emmons, like the other students gathered on the Green, clutched a little red ticket which she glanced at furtively as each raffle began. "We're really intense about this," Emmons said. "We like winning free stuff." Emmons won a new sweatshirt, and Clayton returned to campus with a $10 gift certificate to Ben Franklin.

The Taste of Town Celebration is an event designed by the Middlebury Business Association to introduce students to the businesses in town. Members of the group hope that by hosting this event, they will develop student interest in their business.

"The student population makes up over twenty-five percent of the population of the entire town," said Gail Freidin, an Association member who was in charge of announcing the raffle winners. "The effect of the students varies from business to business, but most of our members have a great interest in attracting more student businesses."

The Middlebury Business Association tries to hold the Taste of Town Celebration every year in the fall to attract new students to their establishments.

"We would like to make it an annual event," said Freidin, "but last year it was rained out. It was threatening to do that today, but it's beautiful."

Despite the lucky absence of rain, the event still struggled to draw a sufficient amount of student interest.

"We're disappointed with the turn out," said Freidin. "Back in 1999 and 2000 we had great participation - almost 300 students attended." Freidin explained that in the past, the Middlebury Business Association teamed up with one of the Middlebury Commons and turned the Taste of Town Celebration into a Commons-sponsored event which sparked student interest.

The Association, though it did not partner with the Commons this year, did try several different strategies for getting students to attend. According to Freidin, the group tried to hire popular campus bands to play at the event. Local favorite Larson was hired this year to entice students to spend their Saturday in the center of town rather than on Battell Beach.

"We were hired to play at this last year," said Alex Banys, Larson's drummer, "but unfortunately it was rained out."

The pleasant weather, free hot wings and sweet sounds of Larson's soprano sax still did not seem to be enough to draw students off campus, however.

"They really need to advertise more," said Clayton. "I recommend that they do it on Battell Beach. I suppose it would defeat the purpose of bringing students into town, but I think more people would show up."

Emmons agreed, "One of our friends saw it in The Campus and told us about it, but the only reason we ended up coming is because we missed the 1:30 p.m. showing of 'Superbad' and decided we might as well stop by while we were in town."

The Association has started to look into ways to change the event in order to up the participation.

"We have considered changing the time of the year," said Freidin. "Perhaps fall is just too early. Or maybe we should change the location - make it an indoor event. Or maybe we could schedule it before finals as a study break." Freidin stressed the difficulty of planning such a student-oriented affair. "We have things like parents' weekend and sporting events to avoid."

Although overall turnout was on the low side, the event did succeed to spark the interest of those who actually did attend.

"They have a table for the new massage and spa services that the Middlebury Inn is now offering," Emmons said. "Right now there really isn't anything like that in town. It's good that they are filling the hole. Plus, we found out that they have fitness classes that are only $175 for three months which is a good deal."

After retrieving her gift certificate from the gazebo, Clayton added, "Well, at least now I will be going to Ben Franklin."