Take near-perfect weather (the few sprinkles that threatened to mar the proceedings passed quickly), a smorgasbord of pulled pork, meatballs, salad, chicken wings, ice cream and chocolate delicacies, café dining, trolley cars, a horse-drawn wagon, bands and balloons and you have the Taste of Shrewsbury Street, circa 2010, an event that defines “Restaurant Row” like no other.
Little wonder that thousands of folks—young and old, from near and far—turned out on a Tuesday evening (June 22): perhaps as many as 3,000, which is the number members of the Shrewsbury St. Area Merchants Association (SSAMA) were hoping for according to Lisa Albano-Selzo of LightLab.
Shana Belsito, Teresa Salerno and Dan DiStefano enjoy themselves at the Tessier family’s Porto Bello, during Shrewsbury St. merchants’ 2010 Taste of Shrewsbury St. event. (Rod Lee photo)
A total of thirty-eight restaurants, clubs and bars on both sides of Shrewsbury St. took part, from Leo’s Ristorante near Washington Square to Piccadilly Pub at the edge of Belmont St. (Rt. 9). Many of the venues were packed with people early and the fun went well into the night. As usual, kitchens had trouble keeping up with the demand for samplings of their various specialties: dished out on small paper plates.
Sponsors included Fidelity Bank, Flagship Bank, Leominster Credit Union, Bay State Savings Bank, Bud Light, Polar Beverages, Hammer-Sickle Imported Russian Vodka, Stella Artois, WCRN, WXLO, Oldies 98.9
FM, The Pike 100 FM, CSX, The Pulse, State Rep. Vincent Pedone, and Acme Pre-Pak Corp.University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Worcester Business Development Corp. (WBDC) sponsored the walking map made available for the happening. Jeff French of The French Bouquet, 167 Shrewsbury St., may have summed up the affection that surrounds the Taste and Shrewsbury St. when he said, in addressing why he moved his business from Holden to Shrewsbury St. about a year ago, “there’s no other place to be!”
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