MONIKA SPAULDING
Leader-Democrat Staff Writer

Approximately 230 people attended the first "Taste of Salem" event sponsored by the Salem Education Foundation Thursday evening at Cornerstone Hall. The event raised more than $6,000 for scholarships that will be awarded to Salem High School graduating seniors this spring. Although the foundation has had several fund-raisers in the past, this was by far the most successful, according to the foundation President Rebecca Marshall. "We were so pleased with the response and the turnout by the community in support of the Salem Education Foundation and the 'Taste of Salem,'" she said. "This is our one money-making event for the year and the money will go to fund the scholarships that we, the foundation, give." In past years, Marshall said they have raised approximately $2,500 at the golf scramble and alumni basketball game. With that money, they were able to award scholarships to three or four students. Marshall said with the amount raised this year, they are looking to be able to give to even more students."All of the funds we made will be used for scholarships," she said. Marshall said the foundation is thankful to the restaurants for participating and were pleased to have so many who were willing to be part of the event."We also were pleased with how many people in the community came out to support us and buy tickets," she said."It was just a good event, all the way around." Besides the food, a silent auction of items donated by people in the community was held. Marshall said she feels the event was so successful because it drew in a different crowd and wider variety of people than previous fund-raisers. "We touched a lot more people and we got a lot more people involved,"
she said. "And obviously, food is also a big drawing card. As much as Hoosiers like basketball, food is an even bigger drawing card than basketball!"

Marshall said the feedback has been overwhelming, both from restaurants and those who attended the event. "They seemed to enjoy the chance to sample various restaurants that they haven't had a chance to go into before," she said. "Our food vendors gave good response, too. They got to see a lot of people they haven't seen before and people came back and told them it was really good. "We're hoping that will encourage them to participate again." The only aspect Marshall can foresee changing next time is to try to keep lines from forming at each restaurant's table. Because of the overwhelming success and the great turnout of people, things got a little backed up. "No one particularly complained about the lines, but instead of having people go here and there, they all kind of got in one line," she said. "But that's just a logistics thing that we'll hopefully work out for the next time." She said they'll also have to plan for more seating, because they used the 216 seats that were originally set up. "But Cornerstone Hall is such a beautiful place and so big and nice, that there will be room to set up more tables for people eating and we'll even have room to add more restaurants next time, too," said Marshall.

Although the plan was to alternate the "Taste of Salem" event with another fund-raiser every other year, Marshall said the board may consider making this their annual event and doing it again next year. "This is obviously something our board will discuss, but with the success of this event, I think there's a really good chance we're going to do this again next year," said Marshall. "This has been very successful!"