Organizer wants Taste of Durham to gain southern appeal with move
By Jim Wise, Staff Writer www.newsobserver.com
"Exponentially better and bigger" - according to founder Kim Ruskan - the third Taste of Durham Festival happens next Saturday, with bands, food samples, arts and crafts, ice sculpting and a Mardi Gras parade.
One reason it's bigger is that it's moved. After two editions in the inner-Durham confines of the Brightleaf Square parking lot, Taste '07 is spreading out across the tree- (and glass-and-brick) rimmed parking lots of the Imperial Center office park off Page Road, between I-40 and N.C. 54.
"It's all logistically driven," Ruskan said. "The new lay of the land is allowing me to have the vision. ... To bring diverse groups of people together, you need a large space."
To fill her space, Ruskan has about 20 food vendors selling samples; about 25 music and dance acts; kids' diversions sponsored by the Nasher Art Museum and the Scrap Exchange; and, for grownups, spiritous beverages of the grape and malt persuasions.
For the first time, the City of Durham is one of the festival's sponsors, Ruskan said. Her budget has tripled from past years. And her musical lineup even includes a German duo, Floating Stone, that saw the festival referenced on the Internet and wanted in on the fun.
"In 2007," she said, "buying entertainment is fascinating."
A big, pan-city event is a first for southern Durham, which is home to more than a third of Durham County's population.
"I think people kind of forget we're part of Durham," said Melissa Rooney, who lives in the Fairfield subdivision off Herndon Road.
The new location could also encourage some "city people" to get to know about another part of town, she said.
"It's nice that south Durham is being recognized," said Carol Young, another Fairfield resident. Young, though, was somewhat skeptical about the Imperial Center's potential.
"On weekends," Young said, "it's pretty well dead."
For her part, Ruskan said she is "tickled pink" about her festival's prospects.
"I'm going to rely on that If-you-build-it-they-will-come, that 'Field of Dreams' thing," she said. "Rain or shine."
