First Posted: 9/1/2014

It’s a party!

Come along to Nichols Village Hotel and Spa, 1101 Northern Boulevard, Clarks Summit, on Sunday, Sept. 14 for the 10th Annual Taste of the Abingtons.

From the area around the Nichols Village pool to the community rooms, treats of all sorts will be set forth for munching. Chefs will carefully prepare the best of their restaurants’ fare and present it to the mingling crowd. Many of these restaurants have been with us for all of the nine years we’ve sponsored this event. This year, they are joined by several new businesses: The Old Milwaukee Bakery, Posh, Thirteen Olives and Miller’s Orchard.

In addition to the 30-plus vendors giving away food, area wine makers and local beer brewers will provide sips of their finest. For those who enjoy the luxury of a good smoke, a cigar salon will be enclosed in an outside tent. These additions of wine, beer and cigars will enhance and enlarge the “Taste.”

A special thank you goes out to Bartolai Winery, Verrastro Distributors, Nimble Hill, and Steamtown Cigar Club for making these new additions possible.

This year, music will also enhance the event. To augment solo musicians, guests will be treated to relaxing jazz music, courtesy of the John Edwards Trio, whose performance will provide an upscale atmosphere to the outside dining experience. The trio will be positioned where its music will give a pleasant background atmosphere to all who are dining, enjoying a chilled glass of Chardonnay, a freshly poured micro-brew or a cigar.

A Chinese and silent auction will add still another avenue of enjoyment to this year’s event. Many local area businesses are contributing a wide variety of prizes. Twenty-plus baskets will be displayed and chanced off throughout the evening. A sampling of offerings include various dining certificates, flower arrangements, car maintenance vouchers, Penn State tickets and the coveted lottery tickets.

Any local business who would like to participate by offering a prize for either the Chinese or silent auction may do so by contacting the event chair, John Regula, at 570-586-6931 or JohnRegula@aol.com

While elegant in its atmosphere, this event encourages a relaxed “come-as-you-are” casual dress environment. You can dress up but you don’t have to. Just come and enjoy a comfortable night out, sampling the best food our wonderful restaurant sponsors have to offer.

Rotarian Gail Cicerini is in charge of the fall décor and has already begun to assemble gourds, pumpkins and mums to make a festive autumn landscape. From the decorations just inside the door to the table scapes arranged both inside and outside, the feeling of a grand party will be everywhere.

Excitement is abundant in the hours before the event. Rotarians form an army of workers to set up tables, chairs and help the restaurant people get ready. One vendor last year brought in a wok so big, it took two men to carry it. Just as actors rehearse and prepare right before the curtain goes up, our chefs, their assistants and their families, come to cut, dice, boil, broil, charcoal and flame-broil delicacies so that the hour of 5:00 will show all in readiness for the record crowd.

Don’t miss this popular event from 5 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 14. Buy your $25 ticket from any Rotarian or at the following places: Peoples Security and Trust, 1100 Northern Boulevard; Everything Natural; Nichols Village Hotel and Spa; Camelot Restaurant; Steamtown Cigar Club; and the Abington Community Library.

All proceeds from this fundraiser will allow the Rotary Club of the Abingtons to continue to do good – locally, nationally and internationally.