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Celebrating the good life can do good things for Durham, The Community Chest believes. The nonprofit organization produces the Taste of Durham Festival, which will combine area restaurant food-samplings with international arts, culture, and an array of eclectic music on Saturday, May 27. The festival’s main intention is simply creating a quality gathering-place for people to enjoy the essence of the good life and get a sampling of entertainment and foods from various international cultures and heritage with a contemporary twist," explained Kimberly Ruskan, the founder of The Community Chest, Inc. Other goals of the festival include highlighting Durham's unique cultural offerings, helping to revitalize the local economy, showcasing organizations that support community and local needs, and producing a unique and high-quality festival to reach vast community groups. Taste of Durham is the first project design, and future niche programs and projects will serve other communities in different counties and regions.

"Bringing the community together with festivals is a powerful tool," said Ruskan. High-quality festivals set in motion what Ruskan calls “the cycle of giving," the synergistic effect of giving back to the community, building stronger community relations, and enriching residents' lives through arts and cultural experiences. The festival and its accompanying Web site, www.tasteofdurham.org, also are designed to bring visibility to local charities and civic, art, and cultural organizations. The Community Chest approaches their mission with what they call “building the watering well," finding common denominators that appeal to people’s needs and even their desires, which they sum up as the ambiance that transports you to a good place, great food, live music, and a slice of the good life. And it is their hope that this type of platform will create bridges toward appreciation, respect, and understanding of people from diverse cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds. “It takes small steps, or ‘bread crumbs,’ towards finding solutions to a never-ending social issue," said Ruskan. “Just hanging around together in pleasant surroundings can do wonders for human relations."

Tom Niemann, managing partner of the community development company Blue Devil Ventures, the festival's title sponsor, explained, "We think the festival is a really good cause and a strong philanthropic endeavor. It can bring a lot of people into the Warehouse and Brightleaf District and bring us together as a community."

"Our ultimate goal is to create a self-sustaining business model that fulfills The Community Chest's mission to serve community interests," Ruskan said. She founded the nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization in September 2002. Corporations like Blue Devil Ventures and West Village, who are title sponsors of the festival for 2005 and 2006, and other companies, businesses, and organizations also contribute to make this vision a reality. "The cycle of giving" relies on this type of communal support and sponsorships.& nbsp; The slogan "Everyone Counts" refers to the focus of the people that define the community and collaborations that it takes to produce the Taste of Durham Festival.

Libby Barnes, President and CEO of Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce said, "A Taste of Durham is an excellent venue to attract visitors and residents to feast on culinary delights in a welcoming and festive environment. This exciting annual event brings new business to local restaurateurs and caterers and those who are their vendors and suppliers. It also helps introduce downtown Durham to those not familiar with its assets and the significant redevelopment, new activity and energy that ‘is in downtown Durham.’ A Taste of Durham is an important component that helps build our local economy and a positive image of the community."

The platform to showcase area businesses, restaurants, and food establishments is an important facet of supporting economic development needs for a community. Contributions and efforts from food establishment join to combine fine dining, international theme restaurants, and cultural and home-style cuisines to create an eclectic, exotic and adventurous food tasting experience. The land use for the festival is another example of these collaborations needed to create a unique venue with ambiance. The festival area consists of combining Brightleaf Square, its large parking lot, the entire area of Peabody Place, and connected streets. Rodney Allison, President of Property Advisory Services, Inc., stated, "The Taste of Durham Festival did a great job attracting a lot of people to Brightleaf Square. Our tenants were pleased with the experience and look forward to showcasing their products and services again this year." Richard Morgan, who with his wife, Jacqueline Morgan, owns Morgan Imports and Peabody Place, added, "We do a lot of things to give back to the community, and we feel this is a good way to continue to do that. Plus we're right here. Brightleaf is part of downtown… most people don't realize how close it is."