GSCVB Foodfest winners announcedDate: 11/26/2014 SPRINGFIELD – The Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau (GSCVB) recently hosted the “Western Massachusetts Foodfest Challenge” and crowned winners of the new signature event Monday evening. The event was open to the public and featured restaurants from throughout Western Massachusetts that were invited to prepare dishes that demonstrated what “Western Massachusetts” meant to them. More than 135 guests attended.
Categories for the event included appetizer, mini entrée and dessert. Dishes were then scored based on three criteria; Taste, Presentation and Use of Western Massachusetts theme. Judges for the event included Wendy Northcross, CEO Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Mark Waxler, principal of Mark Waxler Hospitality Group headquartered in Worcester and Jim Carmody, vice president and general manager of the Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center in Boston.
Bobby V’s located on Schoephoester Road in Windsor Locks, Conn., won the appetizer category for their lump crab and butternut squash bisque. Centerplate at the MassMutual Center won the mini entrée category for serving up the crowd favorite, “Harvest Surplus Chicken” featuring chicken encrusted with red bliss potato, local farmer’s beet and chevre au gratin and sweet basil pesto.
Lastly, Heartfelt Fine Gifts located in Tower Square in downtown Springfield was the winner of the dessert category after serving petite cake bites, sea salt caramels, caramel nut clusters, peanut butter buckeyes and fresh strawberries, raspberries and pineapple dipped in chocolate.
Mary Kay Wydra, president of the GSCVB stated “On behalf of the GSCVB, I would like to congratulate all of the winners of this year’s event and say thank you to everyone who attended. We look forward to hosting another successful event next year.”
Sponsors for this event included: Yankee Candle Village, Aladco Linen Services, Sam Adams, The Log Cabin and Freedom Credit Union.
The GSCVB, an affiliate of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, is a private non-profit destination marketing organization dedicated to promoting Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley for meetings and conventions, group tours, sports and leisure travel. For more information on the GSCVB, visit www.valleyvisitor.com or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/valleyvisitor and follow us on twitter using handle @PValleyvisitor. Engage with us using #pioneervalley or #westernma.
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