Taste of Shawano article in Shawano Leader

All in good taste Taste of Shawano brings out hundreds to sample cuisine

+ click to enlarge Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Bill Mueller, meat manager for Charlie's County Market, loads more racks of ribs into a serving pan Monday night during the fifth annual Taste of Shawano. + click to enlarge Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Dancers from the Shuffles Studio of Dance entertain Taste of Shawano attendees in the commons area at Shawano Community High School. By Lee Pulaski lpulaski@shawanoleader.com The cuisine and fun kept coming Monday night at the fifth annual Taste of Shawano at Shawano Community High School. Lines of people formed a ring in the commons area as more than 400 hungry participants sampled food and drink from 21 different local restaurants and food distributors. The event benefited the local Junior Achievement program. The swarm of people took Ronni Schweyen, owner of the Longhorn Saloon, by surprise -- so much so that her booth ran out of food in the first hour, although her close proximity to her business allowed her to have plenty more rushed over within minutes. "This was our first year, so we didn't know what to expect," Schweyen said. "We went through nine racks of ribs, and we went through more than 10 pounds of pulled pork in less than hour. It was awesome." Schweyen is eager to start planning for next year's event, saying seeing other displays has given her pointers on what to do for her booth. The event was old hat for Kelli Baumann, owner of Farm Inn Restaurant and The Gathering, who has participated in the Taste of Shawano since its inaugural year. Baumann prepared tenderloin tips and cream of chicken soup with wild rice, two signature dishes at her restaurants. "I've been a JA teacher for the last few years," Baumann said. "It's a good way to showcase ourselves and help out the community." Baumann's challenge is to change things up so she is giving folks a chance to sample different dishes each year. Last year, she tantalized taste buds with desserts. The event was held on St. Patrick's Day its first year, giving her the chance to serve up corned beef and cabbage. The fare keeps locals coming back for more. Marge Peterson, 88, of Shawano first attended the Taste of Shawano in 2011, and she recalled that sampling the barbecue from Doc's Harley Davidson was enough to prompt her to go to the Timeline Restaurant after the event and enjoy a full meal. "It's very good. I didn't know what to eat first," Peterson said of this year's event. Taste of Shawano gave more than the restaurants a chance to shine. In one booth, JA's business program with SCHS, Hawk Enterprise, gave students such as junior Christian Krueger a chance to test their sales skills as they explained the plethora of products available. Krueger was especially eager to talk about a new product this year, a bracelet with an attached flash drive. Proceeds from Hawk Enterprise's sales went back to JA, as well as the Shawano Dollars for Scholars program. "There's always that fear factor of going in and asking people for sales," he said. "That's a big fear that a lot of people have, so overcoming that fear really helps our students out and shows how to be a businessman." The event, which went on almost non-stop for the entire two hours, was a success in the eyes of Diane Heikes, JA director for Shawano and Menominee counties. "It's a good place to meet your neighbors on a Monday night in March," Heikes said.