It happened. It was live. We had a ball! #tacofest2021 went virtual, and what a virtual event it was! We have the messy, taco-stained shirts to prove it, no matter which pairing you ordered! We loved hearing straight from our Restauranteurs (Taco Farm, Proof Kitchen, The Bruce, Bingemans@Home, and Graffiti) and Brewers (Short Finger, Wellington, Jackass, TWB, and Stockyards) about the passion and craft they put into their creations. It was awesome to get behind-the-scenes tours of how the magic happens at the breweries, too!
Oh, speaking of our vendors: The people spoke, the votes were tight, but there did indeed emerge two restaurants victorious: Special shoutout to Proof Kitchen for taking home the Vegetarian Victor award, and Taco Farm for winning the People’s Taco Trophy!
Of course, none of us would have been able to enjoy the evening without our array of sponsors. We have Heffner Toyota, our Virtual Platform Sponsor, to thank for allowing the virtual dream to come to be! Our Green Sponsor, MTE Consultants, is responsible for those awesome collectable glasses included in the Tacofest at Home Kits. Of course, a huge shoutout to our Entertainment Sponsor, THEMUSEUM, for the sights and sounds of Temi the Robot, the dinosaur tour, and the delightful Maker Space craft! (Who wore their Taco Pin all week-end?) We’re grateful for friends new and old, like our Gold Sponsor, Amintro, and our Silver Sponsor, Josslin Insurance, for partnering with us to see Tacofest happen again this year. A special thanks to our Media Sponsors, The Waterloo Region Record, 91.5 The Beat, and 107.5 Dave Rocks for helping us get the word on the street! We have Westmount Signs to thank for all our beautiful printed materials, and our ever-wonderful Photography Sponsor, Sylvia Pond, for her incredible food-photo tutorial! (We saw her pro tips being put to great use!) Speaking of photos, thank-you to Bre_Creative for your adorable suite of awesome Tacofest selfie props found within our Tacofest at Home Kits! And a huge thanks to both Island Son and Ginger Goat Hot Sauce for spicing up Tacofest as our custom sponsors! (We hope you tried one or both with your Tacos – if not, you’re missing out!) Thanks go to My IT Guy for hosting our website (otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this), and, last but certainly not least – to our incredible host, Joey from 91.5 The Beat! We had a blast working with him all evening, and we’re glad we could make his first Tacofest a great one!
But the most important thank-you of all? That needs to go to you, the people! Pat yourself on the back and give yourselves a big round of applause Tacofesters! (If we were all together, 330 people would make a big round of applause indeed.) Through your participation in Tacofest, you raised:
OVER $16,000 TOWARDS COMMUNITY SUPPORT CONNECTIONS!
To put that in perspective, that’s the equivalent of putting 3,695 Meals on Wheels on the table for local older adults and adults with different abilities, OR providing them with over 1,000 essential trips to medical appointments! That is a whole lot of good to come from a night of tacos, beer, and fun!
Hats off to another successful Tacofest! Just because we were virtual in 2021, doesn’t mean we’re still not the coolest event in town. Adios, and see you again next year: In-person!
