By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
More than two dozen restaurants and shops in the village of North Syracuse are coming together for the inaugural Taste of North Syracuse next month. The event’s tagline is “Taste! Shop! Experience!” Taste of North Syracuse takes place Oct. 5-13.
“The mayor has wanted to do this for the last couple years and we finally got enough businesses that were interested,” said Teresa Roth, director of parks and recreation for the village of North Syracuse. “Right now it looks like we have between 25 and 30 businesses that will participate. I’m real excited.”
While many “Taste of” events traditionally only feature eateries and breweries, businesses of all sorts are participating in Taste of North Syracuse. The North Syracuse Fire Department is also a partner in the event, as its Fire Safety Day is Oct. 5. A list of participating businesses will be available closer to the event.
“A lot of the businesses aren’t restaurants, but we wanted them to be involved,” Roth said. “The whole mentality behind it is to promote local businesses. … We’re promoting buying, shopping, eating local.”
Instead of having to close down blocks of the village to traffic and going through the red tape of securing additional health department and insurance permits, businesses who participate in the Taste of North Syracuse need only display the event flyer. Roth said there is no cost to businesses who want to join, and they don’t have to split their staff and resources between their usual brick-and-mortar location and a food truck, as they would with a traditional “Taste” event.
Taste of North Syracuse deals could include sales, discounts, specialty menu items and other promotions.
“It’s completely up to the businesses what they want to highlight,” Roth said.
Taste of North Syracuse also seeks to highlight the walkability of the village, which has made many improvements to its streetscapes and sidewalks in recent years.
“The village is small enough you can walk to a number of restaurants,” Roth said.
Roth said she hopes residents and visitors to the village will notice the variety of businesses that call North Syracuse home.
“We have so many particularly restaurants and a lot of specialty shops. I think it’s an eye-opener,” she said. “Whatever we can do to increase their business, and this is an easy way to do it.”
Village officials are hoping that the Taste of North Syracuse will become an annual event. If your business is interested in participating, call 315-458-0900 ext. 129.
