Taste of Annandale attendees offer comments, suggestions for next year

The 2019 Taste of Annandale drew a large crowd.

According to a brief, non-scientific survey on the Taste of Annandale, attendees’ favorite features of the Oct. 13 street festival were the food in general and, specifically, the food trucks.

The second-most frequently mentioned response to the open-ended question about the best thing at the street festival had to do with the sense of community generated by the Taste of Annandale.

The food trucks were popular.

Other often-cited favorites include the entertainment, pet contest, vendors, beer garden, and children’s activities.

When asked where they live, the vast majority of people who responded to the survey indicated the Annandale zip code, 22003. Other respondents were from Bailey’s Crossroads, Springfield, Burke, Fairfax, Falls Church, Alexandria, and Ashburn.

Audacious Aleworks of Falls Church hosted the beer garden.

The majority of survey respondents said they learned about the Taste of Annandale from the Annandale Blog. The next most-often cited response was Facebook, followed by yard signs and banners.

In another open question, we asked what should be changed for the 2019 Taste of Annandale.

Several people suggested having the food vendors offer smaller portions so people could sample food from several sources, rather than filling up at one place. That is something the organizers have been trying to get the restaurants and food trucks do since the first festival, in 2015. If any vendors are reading this, please take note for next year.

Drummer Kofi Dennis gets the kids to join in.

Another comment mentioned by several people: Have more local restaurants. As one person said, the objective of a “Taste of Annandale” should be to give local residents a chance to try food from Annandale restaurants. Other people noted it’s become more of a food truck festival than a showcase for restaurants.

It’s been challenging to get restaurants to participate, although those that did so found the event very rewarding, and we hope they will come back.

It’s a lot easier for food trucks, as all they have to do is roll up and park. Restaurants have to split up their staff on their busiest day and also have to deal with cooking elements, electricity, menu planning, transportation, and permits.

Release the Craycken, an Annandale restaurant at the Taste of Annandale.

If you have a favorite local restaurant you would like to see at the 2019 Taste of Annandale, please encourage them to participate.

Other respondents suggested selling tickets for food tastings, which is done at the Arlington and Falls Church “taste of” festivals. The Taste of Annandale has a simpler process: Restaurants decide what to sell and how much to charge – and they get to keep 100 percent of their profits.

The pet contest attracted many well-dressed dogs.

Here are more suggestions from the survey:

• Expand the beer garden. [Since this was the first time we had one, we didn’t realize it would be so popular.]
• Let people carry beer outside the fenced-in area. [The police might not like that idea.]
• Have a larger venue. [That is something to think about. Stay tuned.]
• Add wineries to the beer area. 
• More food trucks, and more food options in general, and more local restaurants. [We squeezed in as many food trucks as possible, so unless we move to a larger venue, it won’t be possible to have more.] 
• Extend the hours. [In 2017, when the hours were 10 a.m.-6 p.m., some of the vendors ran out of food, and some of the nonfood vendors also left early. That’s why the hours were cut back to 10-4 this year.]
• More seating [We were pleasantly surprised by the huge crowds, so yes, that would certainly be an improvement.] 
• Encourage people to bring their own chairs.
• Have signs or a map to make it easier to navigate; at least one person couldn’t find the pop-up park. 
• Better signage on where to park. 
• Have more vendors, including craft vendors and local artists. 
• Organize the vendors better, so similar organizations are grouped together.
• Have smaller, free samples of chili at the chili cookoff, rather than substantial cups, as that event is competing with vendors trying to sell food. 
• Move the festival to August or September “for better weather.” 

The superheroes kept the crowd in line.

• “I am so glad that the Taste of Annandale has grown over the years and hope it will continue to thrive.”
• “Nice to have this in my town! Hope it grows over time!”
• “We really enjoyed this event.” 
• “This was my first time. Found a notice on Facebook and wanted something fun to do close by.
• “It was really fun. Proud of Annandale.”
• “Great food selection!”
• “The event continues to get better every year. I’ll be coming every time.”
• “The pet contest was really fun.”
•  “Foods were yummy and the dog contest was entertaining.”
•  “Glad to see it growing larger every year. Way to go !!!”