'Sample Your City' Topped Downtown Cartersville's Expectations

 “Sample Your City” exceeded expectations of the Cartersville Downtown Development Authority, and has received rave reviews from the restaurants and food retailers who participated, as well as patrons who purchased tickets.

Ticket holders had an opportunity to visit 12 downtown restaurants, as well as one in the neighboring historic district, to sample the culinary offerings of each location on Oct. 11-12, the Development Authority reported in a post-event news release.

Bob Smith, owner of The City Cellar and Loft, had this to say about “Sample Your City:” “This new company moving into town, voestalpine, has said one of the things that they liked about Cartersville was that our downtown was so walkable. It was great seeing so many people walking around downtown during [Sample Your City]. We welcomed people to The City Cellar who had never been before through this event. It was great.”

Participants could be seen walking up and down Main Street, along Wall Street and under the bridge during the two-day event.

 “We enjoyed walking through our beautiful downtown and tasting a wide variety of foods and drink from the local restaurants," said Jennifer Wiggins-Matthews in the news release. "Although we have eaten at several of the restaurants in the past, almost all of them provided samples of food we have not had before and will definitely try on our next outing. Sample Your City was a great and delicious event.”

Nancy Childs, co-owner of Meg Pie, said they thought the event was great.

“We felt it was a great way to get people into the shop. Most people think of Meg Pie as a gift shop but so many didn’t realize we have our coffee shop. It gave us the opportunity to offer samples of our coffee drinks and pastries and introduce a number of new faces to Meg Pie,” Childs said.

Mike Verlon, owner of Findley’s Butcher Shop, also saw a few new faces and had this to say about the event: “[Sample Your City] was awesome for us! A lot better than Taste of Cartersville. 

“Lots of new people came through that had never been in before. It was a definite plus for us. It helps having people come into the shop and actually see what we have to offer. Best of any event we have participated in,” Verlon said in the release.

The two-day event allowed members of the community and surrounding areas not only the opportunity to sample the food and beverages served in downtown Cartersville, but also to take advantage of special promotions, live music or other incentives being offered to ticket holders.

Catheryn Hembree said she tends to visit the saw couple of restaurants over and over again.

“Sample your City gave me a chance to try places for the first time and get a good feel of the type and quality of food they serve. [It was] a great, fun inexpensive way to explore Cartersville’s locally owned businesses; I have definitely added new restaurants to my go to list,” she said.

Participants of the 2012 “Sample Your City” event included: Agan’s Bakery, Appalachian Grill/Culinaria at Appalachian Grill, Coconuts, E Street Tavern, Findley’s Butcher Shop, Jefferson’s, Johnny Mitchell’s Smokehouse Express, Meg Pie, Moore’s Gourmet Market, Quiznos, Swheat Market Deli, Tacos n Subs, and The City Cellar.