Taste of OCC music/food/drink event in Bancroft Park Sept. 23
Sept. 10, 2018A year and a half has passed since the last Taste of OCC, but Sunday, Sept. 23 will still be the sixth annual in Bancroft Park.
The fundraiser for Old Colorado City improvements will again feature a live band (Woodshed Red, which also performed in April 2017), along with samples of food and beverages donated by about 30 area
With the April 2017 Taste of OCC held a few
months after the Bancroft Park bandshell fire, the stage was still boarded up, and
the band (Woodshed Red) played on a riser in front of it. For the Sept. 23 Taste,
with the Woodshed contingent returning as performers, the now-fixed bandshell
will be available again.
Westside Pioneer photo
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Tickets are $30 in advance ($10 for ages 12 and under). This gets you in from 1 to 4 p.m. If a person wants to pay $50 for a “VIP ticket,” they get to come in an hour earlier.
A total of 600 tickets are on sale. If any are still left Sept. 23, they will sell for $5 more at the gate, according to event organizer Lauren Ripko.
Asked about any event upgrades this year, she pointed to “lots more partnerships with local distilleries and craft breweries.”
Last year's fundraising target was the park itself, in the wake of the January 2017 bandshell fire. With proceeds from the 2018 Taste, the goals “will be determined based on needs that arise in 2019,” Ripko said, adding that “already this year the OCCF has funded private security on the avenue and a few other projects.”
Ripko listed four reasons for moving the annual Taste date from spring to fall.
1 - To improve the chances for better weather. In each of the last three years, the event has been buffeted by rain, wind and/or cold.
2 - To have “better timing with restaurants,” resulting from a September date.
3 - To provide some time space between Taste and a new, similar-but-different annual event that OCCF started in June. Called West Fest, it has free admission, but the food and drink must be purchased.
4 - To avoid the Bancroft Park restroom construction project, which originally was to occur last spring… but is now planned for this fall. However, according to Colorado Springs Parks, the project will not yet have started in September.
For more information about Taste of OCC, call 303-929-2434.
Westside Pioneer/press release
(Business:
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