Taste of Kick-Off Event Coverage

May 7, 2015 by Sarah Bélanger

I was invited to participate in Florence’s Restaurant Week 2015.  Wonderful local food (for free), great people and the chance to spend the weekend in one of my favorite cities, yes please!Florence is near and dear to my heart as it home of my alma mater, UNA. I both studied and taught journalism and photography at the university. I have many wonderful memories of the city, which has great restaurants, fun festivals and supports an impressive music and arts community.This year 14 restaurants are participating the Florence Main Street sponsored charity event.  Each restaurant will offer specials for participants. As part of the event, patrons that eat at one of the restaurants will have the opportunity to vote for one of their five favorite charity.  At the end of restaurant week the charity that has received the most votes will receive $5000, generously donated from McDaniel Window & Door.On Wednesday I attended the kickoff for restaurant week at Singin’ River Brewery and got to sample food from all of the restaurants.  Everything was delicious and it made me super exciting about this weekend.  I also got to meet my fellow bloggers: Eve and Roger from Friday Date Night and my blogger BBF Christi Britten Williams (we were photojournalism friends at UNA together) from Dirt Plate.  Make sure you check out their posts this week as well.  Here are the participating restaurants at the event.  Make sure you check my blog next week lots of photos from the 5 restaurants I’m covering this weekend.  I’m seriously regretting making an appointment with a personal trainer on Monday.  :(Singin’ River Brewing CompanyCity Hardware and Ricatoni’s Italian GrillRivertown Coffee Co.OdetteImagine That BakerySperry’s RestaurantWildwood TavernFloBama DowntownBookmarks Coffee ShopTrowbridge’sLegendsThe Pie FactoryOn The Rocks

Florence Restaurant Week Charity Nomination Phase

FLORENCE RESTAURANT WEEK 2015 NOMINATION PHASEFlorence Main StreetFlorence, AL – March 25 – Between April 1 and April 24, Florence Main Street wants you to nominate your favorite charity for the opportunity to win a $5,000 check. Last year during Florence Restaurant Week, Presenting Sponsor McDaniel Window & Door owner Mike McDaniel presented the $5000 winning charity check to SafePlace, Inc and he’s looking forward to making another charity very happy this year.“Presenting the $5000 check to SafePlace was not only an honor, but a privilege for myself and staff. It was exciting to see our local businesses thriving, while our community came together to raise awareness for so many wonderful charities. McDaniel Window & Door is excited to be the Presenting Sponsor again for 2015 Florence Restaurant Week, and I personally challenge all our local businesses to get involved and support this great event,” said owner, Mike McDaniel.Selected from the community’s nominations, five charities will be placed on a ballot for guests dining at participating restaurants during Florence Restaurant Week in May. Tuesday, April 1 through Friday, April 24th, nominate your favorite charity and tell us why they deserve this prize.  (To be considered, a charity must be a designated 501c(3) organization with the state of Alabama and have an office in the Shoals.) The three most nominated charities will automatically be included on the ballot, and Florence Main Street will choose two wild-card charities based on input from our Presenting Sponsor, number of nominations, impact on our community, and other factors. SafePlace of the Shoals will be excluded from this years’ nomination phase because they were the winners of Florence Restaurant Week 2014.You can nominate your favorite charity four ways. Florence Main Street will have a poll on our Facebook page, on McDaniel Window & Door’s Facebook page, and on our website (www.dineoutflorence.com) or you can mail in your nomination. If you choose to mail in a nomination please include these items:Your First and Last NameYour Email addressName of CharityWhy you are nominating the charity?Name of Executive Director at the charity.Contact info for the charity. (Address & Phone Number)Then, from May 8-16, Florence Main Street will host Florence Restaurant Week 2015. Ballots will be available at participating restaurants.  Every time you eat at a participating restaurant during Florence Restaurant Week, you will have the opportunity to vote for one of our five local charities. Every time you eat, you get to vote! Florence Restaurant Week is not only a showcase of our best local eateries, but it will also help to shine the light on some of our best local charities. The charity with the most votes at the end of the week will walk away with a check for $5,000 that will be used to do good work right here in the Shoals.Mark your calendars now for FLORENCE RESTAURANT WEEK–May 8-16, 2015! And please, help us do good where it counts by nominating YOUR favorite charity today!Participating Restaurants: Bookmarks Coffee Shop (inside the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library), Sperry’s, Wildwood Tavern, The Pie Factory, Singin’ River Brewery, Rivertown Coffee Company, Flobama Music Hall, Odette, Imagine That Bakery & Café, Legends Steakhouse, On the Rocks, Trowbridges, City Hardware, Ricatoni’s Italian Grill and more.Make sure to join the Facebook event and invite your friends to follow along with all things about Restaurant Week. Click here!Florence Main Street, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated of working with business owners, community leaders, and residents toward the common goal of revitalizing Downtown Florence culturally and economically. For more information about us or any of these efforts, please contact Florence Main Street at 256-760-9648 or info@florencemainstreet.org ### 

Florence Main Street Announces Restaurant Week Charity Winner

Florence, AL – May 20 - Florence Main Street will announce the winning charity from their Restaurant Week promotion at 10am Thursday, May 22. The live press conference will take place at McDaniel Window & Door Company headquarters, 300 E. Tennessee St, Florence AL. The winning charity will receive a $5,000 check from Restaurant Week Presenting Sponsor McDaniel Window & Door Company followed by light refreshments. Restaurant Week would not have been possible without the generous support from our sponsors McDaniel Window & Door Co., Specs Downtown and Integrated Corporate Solutions, along with assistance from Florence Lauderdale Tourism and the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa.

Restaurant Week, held May 9 – 17, was a promotion to showcase the excellent independently owned and operated dining options available in downtown Florence and nearby. Fifteen restaurants participated in the Florence Restaurant Week promotion. To add an extra incentive to dine in the participating restaurants, local charities were nominated to be included on a ballot, where diners could vote for them to receive a $5000 check. “Most of the feedback we’ve received from the restaurants has been positive” said Teryl Shields, Florence Main Street Executive Director. “The only concern expressed was the anticipation of crowds for Restaurant Week on top of the known crowds for visitors for UNA’s graduation and Mother’s Day. Other than that, most of them seem pretty happy with the week. I’ve been told they’ve seen some good traffic.”A promotion of area restaurants was run previously by the Florence Lauderdale Tourism Board but their focus was more aimed toward getting out of town visitors to come into Florence. Florence Main Street’s Restaurant Week was all about getting local citizens that might not have tried the dining options in downtown, to see what all the excitement is about. “Kind of like a prophet isn’t recognized in his own town,  we want our locals to be proud of what an amazing food scene we have here in Florence, said Shields. Our out of town guests are always amazed at our restaurants, their variety of cuisine and the number of our options. Florence Restaurant Week was a way of showcasing our great food to folks in our area”.While the primary effort was attracting local diners, Main Street Event Coordinator, Christina Dorough wanted to make sure folks from all over knew about Florence and our culinary treasures, so she researched regional food bloggers and invited several to visit during Restaurant Week along with inviting local bloggers and writers to share their dining experiences also. “We invited food bloggers from Urbanspoon with highly rated blogs in the Southeast. Taking into consideration of specific writing styles, age, and experience, we narrowed them down to Grant Goggans of Marie Let's Eat from Atlanta, GA and Lauren Widelitz of Old Red Boots from Nashville, TN. They seemed very impressed with all we had to offer and Grant even commented that if one of our restaurants was in Atlanta ‘folks wouldn’t’ shut up about it’. We look forward to reading all of their reviews”.Florence Restaurant Week participating restaurants included Sperry’s Restaurant, The Pie Factory, City Hardware, Ricatoni’s Italian Grill, Rosie’s Mexican Cantina, The Chicago Café, Legends Steakhouse, Rivertown Coffee Company, Bookmarks Coffee Shop, Montagu’s Sandwich Shop, Frostbite Frozen Treats, Sweet Basil Café, Poplar South Deli & Grille, FloBama Music Hall and the Dish Gourmet Café & Catering.Charities eligible for the top prize include Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, Pets Are Worth Saving (PAWS), Scope 310, Hearts of Alabama: Save, Rescue, Adopt (HASRA), and Safeplace Inc.More information about the nominated charities and food reviews blogs can be found at eatoutflorence.com. For more information contact Florence Main Street at 256.760.9648.