Published: July 22, 2008 08:53 pm            

NIAGARA FALLS: Taste of Niagara sours

Falls eatery showcase this weekend postponed until next year

This weekend’s Taste of Niagara has been taken off the menu.

Promoter Richard Hoose has canceled the fifth-annual event scheduled for Saturday and Sunday along Niagara Falls’ East Pedestrian Mall, saying the pending sale between the current lease holder and USA Niagara Development Corp. forced an unexpected delay in planning and promoting. While the Taste had enough food vendors to be held, Hoose decided it would be better off postponing until next year and avoid the possibility of poor attendance.

“It was a really tough decision, but it wasn’t made due to a lack of interest,” he said. “We had vendors lined up to do it. The decision was made to protect the event and vendors.”

After spending its first four years in Lockport, Taste of Niagara organizers decided to move the event to Niagara Falls so it had the ability to expand in future years. Similar to the Taste of Buffalo, the two-day attraction was to feature food samples from numerous Western New York eateries, live entertainment, crafters and an amusement area for children.

Hoose, owner of Event Pro, said the idea to move to Niagara Falls picked up steam earlier this year after he met former City Councilwoman Candra Thomason. He credited Thomason with making several calls on his behalf to begin the process. Eventually, an agreement was reached to hold the Taste along the Old Falls Street East Pedestrian Mall, which at the time was under the vending rights of developer Joseph Anderson.

Anderson is in the final stages of selling his vending rights and ownership of the adjacent former Wintergarden building to USA Niagara. Hoose said Anderson’s representatives contacted him after an article about the sale appeared in the Niagara Gazette in June and told him he would need to get permission to hold the event from either the city or USA Niagara.

Officials from USA Niagara, who have refused to confirm or deny the sale is taking place, informed Hoose the request would have to go through the city. City attorneys would not sign off on the event while the ownership was still in Anderson’s hands, Hoose said.

“That kind of threw everything back to square one,” he said. “All of our plans were in limbo while the property was being transitioned from one owner to another. It left us in a real bind.”

Because of the uncertainty, Event Pro was unable to enter into contracts with food vendors and sponsors and held off on advertising and promoting the event. On July 10, Hoose met with several city officials, including Mayor Paul Dyster and new City Administrator Donna Owens, and it was agreed the city would contact Anderson to work out an arrangement to allow the event to take place.

“Once we got everyone on the same page and in the same room, the city was extremely supportive,” Hoose said. “It just turned out to be bad timing and we got caught in the middle.”

While it lost several vendors because of the delay, the Taste had enough commitments to go on as scheduled this weekend. However, the lack of advertising and uncertainty of the past few weeks led Hoose to pull the plug and focus on next year.

“It would’ve been a 50/50 shot to run the event and have it a success and we didn’t want to ruin it for future years by having bad attendance for our vendors,” he said. “Next year we can come back with a bigger and better event.”

Despite the Taste being canceled for the first time in five years, and Hoose losing money as a result, he said there’s no hard feelings with either the city or Anderson.

“This doesn’t leave a sour taste in our mouth,” he said. “We are extremely thrilled to be coming to Niagara Falls and we want to grow this into a big event. Everyone involved thinks that can happen. What happened this year won’t happen next year.”

Council Chairman Samuel Fruscione said he was disappointed to hear the event has been canceled, but sympathized with Hoose’s concerns. He pointed out Hoose didn’t approach the city’s tourism advisory board about bringing the event here until the end of last month.

“The timeframe to put this together kind of came to us a little late,” Fruscione said. “I think it was a good decision (to cancel the event). We don’t want to do a half-assed job.”

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.