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202 Tavern employee Destiney Brockman, St. Marys, serves a customer at the annual Taste of Celina on Friday evening on Main Street.
CELINA - The irresistible aromas of smoked brisket, BBQ pulled pork and other sizzling meats wafted throughout downtown on Friday evening, luring epicures on the prowl for refined flavors and revelers fixin' to get their fill of some the best local food offerings from a bevy of vendors situated under tents.
A good-sized crowd turned out for the annual Taste of Celina, weathering stifling heat whose grip was loosened at times by a gentle breeze. Eleven vendors set up shop on Main Street, which was closed to traffic on Main Street between Market and Warren streets, enabling people to socialize while enjoying specialty food samples, beverages, a car show and live music courtesy of the CPR Band.
Food lovers enjoyed their meals with sounds from The CPR Band at the annual Taste of Celina on Friday evening on Main Street.
The Celina-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce sponsored the vibrant block party, which has steadily grown into one of the city's most popular events.
"Tonight's event was such a success because of the wonderful people in this area," said chamber director Stacy Beougher. "They came out strong to support our local restaurants and caterers."
Participating this year were Speakeasy Steak & Ale House, Shandy's Grill & Bar, McDonalds, The Anchor, C-Town Wings on Wheels, Fritz's Hog Wild BBQ, The Bay, 202 Tavern, Celina Manor Cafe, Friendly Markets and Brew Nation.
Smoked meats took center stage at Brew Nation's tent: house smoked brisket taco, smoked pork nachos, loaded mac and cheese.
A brisket taco and pork nachos from Brew Nation available at the annual Taste of Celina on Friday evening on Main Street.
"We're doing our wood-fired pepperoni pizza and our wood-fired chicken, bacon, ranch pizza," said Brew Nation owner Kim Nation. "We also have our pretzel and our beer cheese that's made with our Lake Rat Brewing beer."
Each year, Nation said, she prepares tried-and-true crowd favorites while sprinkling in a new concoction or two to keep things interesting.
"Some of them we offer on special (at Brew Nation), but a lot of the stuff that we use, like our brisket sandwich and things like that, we're focusing on the meat, so we just did little alternative items," she said. "We had to stay within budget."
Taste of Celina is a pivotal event for food vendors, who have the rare opportunity to showcase their culinary chops to a large group of people - and hopefully reel in new customers in the highly competitive restaurant and catering industry.
The annual event also holds special meaning to Nation.
"I love this because Deb Borns and I started this back (after Main Street was reconstructed)," she said.
Following the completion of the mammoth $3.23 million project, the grand reopening of Main Street was held July 8, 2011, during the first annual Taste of Celina.
Hungry customers flock to Main Street for the annual Taste of Celina block party.
Mandi Bruce and Jacob Poeppelman had their work cut out for them this week as they prepared items from their three restaurants - 202 Tavern, The Anchor and The Bay - for Taste of Celina.
"This is my favorite event," Bruce said. "I absolutely love doing this event."
Bruce did some 11th-hour tweaking of 202 Tavern's menu for the downtown smorgasbord.
"We initially went with the smothered chicken, spin dip, the boneless (wings) and some flatbreads. Then everybody's menu came out and a lot of people are doing the same things," she pointed out. "So we went ahead and added stir fry, which is a new item that's our top seller right now."
Another last-minute addition was Alfredo.
"Because everybody loves it, so we thought, 'Let some new people try it out a little bit,'" she said.
202 Tavern manager Neil Kerns said the flatbreads were a huge hit Friday night.
"The crust is super crunchy, the chicken-bacon-ranch (flatbread) is on point," Kerns said. Fritz's Hog Wild BBQ, owned by Fritz Suhr, was back in the saddle this year, serving up heaps of their famous pulled pork, pork loin and ribs.
"This is our first time out for a couple years because we had a bunch of health issues," Angie Suhr, Frank's wife, said. "We were excited to get back out this year."
Fritz Suhr said he prepared a bounty of meats for Hog Wild BBQ's glorious return to Taste of Celina, roughly a couple hundred pounds, which he expected to exhaust by the end of the evening.
"He's been cooking for three days," his wife pointed out.
The secret to what makes Hog Wild BBQ's fare so popular harkens back decades ago to Fritz's father - legendary Celina restauranteur Dale Suhr.
"My dad used to have … Casey Jones (restaurant), The Willow (restaurant), Fritz's (Hamburgers)," he said. "This is what I've done since I was like 11."
"He really takes pride in what he's doing to make sure it's exactly the right temperature and tastes good," his wife said when asked what makes Hog Wild BBBQ such a standout.
Customers line up to grab their meals from C-Town on Wheels at the annual Taste of Celina on Friday evening on Main Street.
People made their way up and down Main Street, some standing in huge lines at various vendor tents, others futilely seeking respite from the blazing sun under limited awning.
Groups of families and friends plopped down in chairs seated around round tables, waving fans and quaffing beer, soda or water. Among the throngs were Carl and Rita Pleiman of Fort Recovery, who make the trek to the big city every year for Taste of Celina.
The undisputed champion of the night, at least by their estimation, was Friendly Markets' ribs.
"They were tender," Rita Pleiman said.
"They fell off the bone," her husband added.
The couple also took a fancy to Brew Nation's loaded mac and cheese and 202 Tavern's chicken strips.
Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel spent most of the evening hawking food tickets in front of the Stammen Insurance building.
"This has turned out really great for the vendors that are participating, and I know the public is loving this," he said. "Lots of families, lots of new faces and visitors from out of town, and I feel like this is more of the spirit of Celina with how we are enjoying a sense of community in Celina."
Beougher, too, had nothing but good things to say about the evening.
"I just love this event and appreciate all our sponsors, city crews and all the restaurants for their hard work," she said. "It's such a fantastic community we live in. And we can't wait to do it again next year."
Classic cars line Main Street at the annual Taste of Celina on Friday evening.
