Food Fest fundraiser gets cooking
By Shari Kaplan
The recipe is simple: combine generous amounts of tasty food, drinks and sweets; blend in some live music and add a generous sprinkling of hungry visitors.
The product will be finished on Aug. 20, from 2 to 6 p.m., when the fifth annual Great Los Gatos Food Fest takes place in the Town Plaza Park, bordered by S. Santa Cruz Avenue, W. Main Street and Montebello Way.
The Food Fest is a fundraiser for A Place for Teens--popularly known as The Outhouse--a nonprofit teen center used by local youths to meet, study, socialize, eat, play games, surf the Internet and participate in various workshops and leadership activities.
Although adults on the Outhouse board and parent volunteers lend a hand, the event is really the teens' gig, from inviting local eateries to serve sample-sized portions of their most popular dishes, to soliciting donations for the silent auction and raffle prizes.
"We have a really strong crop of seniors this year," says Los Gatan Jane Hiatt, a volunteer whose daughter, Annie Pearl, is among the Outhouse's student board members and will be a Los Gatos High School senior this fall.
Student board member Darci Palmer, also a soon-to-be LGHS senior, has been involved with the Food Fest for several years and says she has seen it evolve from a small fundraiser to an event more like "a big, fun community party."
"We're making money in a way that's not just asking people for it," she says. "I now have a much better idea of how much time and effort goes into planning a special event. It also puts pressure on you to be organized!"
"My friend Erin [Gisler, also a board member] says that it's nice to have something to be responsible for even though it's summer and there's no school," Palmer adds.
The teens' hard work is paying off. Not only are there more participating eateries than ever before, but there are also two bands providing free live entertainment: the Joel Harrison Jazz Quartet and the Los Gatos High School Faculty Band, which features teachers Ralph Aguayo, Scott Downs, Steve Hammack and Russ Leal.
After the Food Fest's entertainment leaves the stage, Delta Wires, a rhythm and blues band, will take the stage at 5 p.m. for that Sunday's Music in the Plaza free community concert. The Food Fest will continue for another hour after that.
This year's fest includes samplings from the following establishments: Cafe Marcella, California Cafe, Campo di Bocce, C.B. Hannegan's, Chart House, Chocolate Dream Box, Dolce Spazio, Double D's Sports Grille, Gardino Fresco, Le Boulanger, Los Gatos Bar & Grill, Oakville Grocery, Pedro's, Round Table Pizza, Sweet Pea's, Whole Foods and Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza.
Admission is free. Taste tickets are $1 each, as are raffle tickets. Tickets are available in advance or at the event. For more information, call 408.395.5553 or visit www.APlaceforTeens.org on the Internet
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
