The Taste of Annandale: That was fun!
of Annandale Saturday, Oct 15, for the third annual Taste of Annandale. People
of all ages enjoyed live shows, food, and fun at the street festival on a perfect fall day.
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| Monarca in Flight. |
An event planner at the festival estimated the Taste of Annandale drew at least 4,000 people. More than 75 people took part in the Taste of Annandale 5K Race.
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| The start of the Taste of Annandale 5K Race. |
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| The top winners in the 5K, from the left: first-place winner Mark Naylor, second-place winner Kyle Grimsely, third-place winner Jose Sejas, third-place winner Erin Donovan, second-place winner Meriem Bacha, and first-place winner Amy Servas. To the right of the runners are Mason Supervisor Penny Gross, and Taste of Annandale Committee Chair Bob Kahane, president of the Annandale Rotary Club. |
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| The Honey Pig restaurant tries out its new “Honey Cup” concept. |
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| Baja Bistro Fresh Mex Grille offers a healthy lunch to Taste of Annandale crowds. |
Eleven performance groups appeared on the Showmobile stage, presenting a range of acts, from Bolivian and Hawaiian music and dance to martial arts, from swing dancing to Chinese and American music, and much more.
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| Members of the audience get a hula lesson from Tamure Ataata. |
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| From the left: Taste of Annandale MC Brett Thorson and Taste of Annandale Commmittee Chair Bob Kahane, with chili champions from the Annandale Fire Station. |
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| Bill Page brought three brand-new vehicles to the Taste of Annandale. |
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| Local leaders and Title Sponsors present welcoming remarks. From the left: Annandale High School Principal Timothy Thomas; school board member Sandy Evans (Mason), Taste of Annandale Committee Chair Bob Kahane; Mason Supervisor Penny Gross; state Sen. Dave Marsden; Diego Garcia, sales manager, Bill Page Toyota; and BB&T Vice President Raymond Kim. |
Children and their families enjoyed a whole day of live entertainment and activities at the ACCA Child Development Center organized by the center’s director Maria-Isabel Ballivian.
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| Paw Patrol characters and friends greet children at the Taste of Annandale. |
Mark Naylor won the Taste of Annandale 5K with a time of 19:53:24. Amy Servas was the top female runner, with a time of 24:29:34.
Lucky, a puppy belonging to Jefferson Soto, won the “best overall” prize in the pet contest hosted by Chico’s Natural Pet Market, a sponsor of the Taste of Annandale.
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| Dogs and their owners in the pet contest. |
Silverado won in the “overall best restaurant” category in the Annies, the awards sponsored by the Annandale Blog. The other winners were: Best Korean restaurant – Honey Pig, best restaurant for breakfast/brunch – JukeBox Diner, best restaurant for pizza – Valentinos, and best restaurant for chicken – BonChon. Members of the community voted for their favorites.
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| Emcee Brett Thorson presents a Best Restaurant Award to Jennifer Keeler, manager of Silverado. |
6 responses to “The Taste of Annandale: That was fun!”
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For the second year in a row, my husband and I arrived well before the event was supposed to end, only to find that almost all the actual restaurants had already closed up and left. All that remained were food trucks (mostly from D.C.) and a few snack stands, one of which was from Reston. It was almost impossible to get food that came from an actual Annandale vendor.
Props to Baja Bistro for being "all there."
We'll be there earlier next year, but perhaps the organizers shouldn't advertise more than they can deliver.
Classic example of the Failure of Hope over Experience…note to self, Go Earlier.
It would be great if the festival could include the dinner hour, at least run till 8pm so some of us who can't get out during the day can enjoy the food for dinner. Looks like you all had fun.
They'll never be able to keep the vendors there until 8:00 pm if they can't even stay for the amount of time that was advertised.
The helicopter take off and landing was a huge hit, our kid loved it
Adam I am glad that we could share this one meaningful and magnificent moment together. See, we do have some common ground after all.