TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Taste of Jazz will combine local music and food

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY HOLT wholt@hernandotoday.com

Published: November 2, 2007

WEEKI WACHEE – Chicago-native Patti Cotter wanted to include her two favorite things into one festival – food and jazz.

A member of the Hernando County Fine Arts Council, Cotter said she was the one who came up with the idea of organizing the inaugural A Taste of Jazz at Weeki Wachee Springs.

She missed the luxury of regularly attending jazz festivals in Chicago and she insisted on bringing some of that to Hernando County.

There will be plenty of music from three separate venues. There will be the indoor stage – in the Petite Preservation Hall, the Satchmo Pavilion – inspired by Louis Armstrong, and the big venue, or the jazz main stage.

"The funds that we raise will be kept in the county to promote the arts," Cotter said. It is her hope the event continues to raise enough money to support itself year after year. That is why she and her fellow council members scheduled it after most of the snowbirds return and when the weather is more pleasant.

"We have a lot of local talent and we want to showcase it," she said.

As for the food, Cotter turned to eight local restaurants to serve as vendors. A portion of the food sales will go toward the local arts.

Among the food vendors will be Chicago Eats, which serves the Vienna beef hot dogs Cotter enjoyed growing up with. It's also the food most closely associated with any and all music that comes out of the Windy City.

"This was an easy call for us," said Chicago Eats owner Robbie Rittmueller, who like Cotter, grew up in the Chicago area. "I went to a lot of jazz clubs when I was over there and loved it … Our food definitely goes with all of that. We wanted to do it immediately."

All of the vendors will be vying for first prize in the food vendor contest. The female employees at Chicago Eats will be there in pink-striped fedoras and will be serving up to four entrees from the menu.

"All of the food will come from local restaurants," Cotter said. "There will be no fair vendors there."

Weeki Wachee will provide a cash-only beer and wine tent.

The cost will be $3 per person, plus $1 for parking. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4.

The headlining performer will be Dan McMillion's Jazz Orchestra of Tampa. Most of the rest of the lineup will include local musicians, Cotter said.

The finale Sunday will include a jam session from members of the Hernando Jazz Society.

"I hope to see a huge amount of people there," Cotter said. "In my dreams, I'd like to see so many people there that we'll have to turn people away at the door … and I want people to have a wonderful time."

A portion of the food sales from the vendors will be used to pay for the event. No coolers will be allowed.

For more information about the Fine Arts Council, call 754-4788 or visit www.hernandoarts.org.

Reporter Tony Holt can be contacted at 352-544-5283 or via e-mail at wholt@hernandotoday.com.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT