In its 18th year, the Taste of Morgan Hill and its organizing
agency – the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce – promote downtown
businesses and build strong economic and social ties
Our 43-year-old Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its popular Taste of Morgan Hill two-day festival this weekend for the 18th year in a row and there are many reasons to celebrate and support the event.
Since the festival’s creation by Lorraine Welk and a struggling young chamber in the fall of 1989, the event has always been about showcasing our local community, its interesting businesses and wineries and promoting our local economy.
And as the chamber has grown in reputation and stature, now representing nearly 600 businesses that make a living in our community, the festival has also grown, drawing between 40,000 to 50,000 people annually to the heart of downtown to support our business community.
Such consistent attendance and steady revenue stream from the event, to the tune of more than $40,000, is needed for the chamber, which relies on such money to continue its many valuable programs.
The festival gives businesses the opportunity to showcase their services and gives local wineries such as Guglielmo, Martin Ranch, Pedrizzetti, Uvas Creek and Solis, among others, the chance for the public to taste their products. We’re pleased to see the festival will only use Morgan Hill food vendors again this year during the event.
As in the past, the festival will allow the Future Farmers of America to host a petting zoo in the Kid Zone on East Second Street and Monterey Road, wrapping around the Granada Theater. For many of our young breeders this is the only chance to showcase their animals other than the Santa Clara County Fair.
The festival seems to touch so many lives in Morgan Hill, from chamber members who set up booths during the event to those who run the many nonprofit organizations in our community. Many of these nonprofits use the event to raise money and the chamber assists them by giving them a donation from their total earnings to support their programs.
While the city has an economic development contract with the chamber allocating this year $140,000 for such purposes, much of that money is strictly used by the organization for regional tourism, marketing and advertising purposes. About $90,000 of those funds must be used by the organization for economic development, leaving the chamber only $50,000 for operational and overhead expenses. That’s not enough to run an agency with five employees which provides many critical services and acts as the economic development engine of the city.
The chamber also serves as a community resource/referral and visitors center. This year it presented a health fair, and continues many business networking opportunities such as the early morning business breakfasts, the women in business luncheons and the monthly business mixers. All are critical to a strong local economy.
So this weekend don’t forget to support this wonderful local community event. The weather promises to be lovely and the event’s program looks better and even more exciting than last year. Admission and parking is free and tickets purchased this year will be good for food and beverages.
