Taste of Downtown begins this weekend

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Taste of Downtown returns this Sunday, March 6, through Saturday, March 12, and features multi-course lunch and dinner menus at reduced prices. Taste of Downtown began in 2008 as a collective effort between Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance and restaurant owners to promote the amazing array of cuisine in Downtown Harrisonburg.

Since that time, promotion of this event has grown from a few postcards and posters to a full-blown marketing campaign with radio, newspaper and television commercials. The new Taste of Downtown commercial premieres Thursday, March 3, on the Food Network, Style and OWN, Oprah Winfrey’s new network. The commercial was made possible by the generous support of DIGICO Shoot |Post | Design and can also be seen on the DIGICO Vimeo channel and HDR blog.

The Virginia Downtown Development Association recognized the success of this cooperative event with an award in 2009 for Business Development, Promotion and Marketing. Since then, Taste of Downtown has grown in the number of participating restaurants, as well as the variety of meals offered. “Originally we only had dinner menus offered at nine restaurants. Now we have eight lunch menus and fourteen dinner menus offered from fifteen unique food establishments,” says Alexis Morehouse, senior promotions manager at HDR.

The Little Grill, a long-time staple of the Harrisonburg restaurant scene, is the newest addition to Taste of Downtown, offering meat and vegetarian meals. Morehouse says, “The Little Grill joining Taste of Downtown this year is another example of how members of the DDA encourage each other to join cooperative initiatives like this one. We’re excited to have them on board.”

A complete listing of menus is available at www.DowntownHarrisonburg.org or by calling 540.432.8922.