Brad Lynd scoops gelato into a dish and serves it to the next person in the queue while his business partner and wife, Esther, accepts their tasting ticket.  The icy delicacy is handmade with local lavender and honey, and there’s a long line of people waiting to be served. “It’s a new flavour we’re trying,” says Lynd. “If the customers at Taste! like it, then we’ll add it to our regular selection next summer at the shop.”

Lynd owns the Bean Counter cafe in downtown Picton. He and his wife are serving customers today from their booth at Taste! A celebration of regional cuisine. It’s the ninth annual event at Picton’s Crystal Palace, and attendance is through the roof. “We’ve sold out,” says Taste the County executive director, Kathleen Kennedy.“We sold more than 2000 admission tickets plus admitted volunteers, vendors and VIPS. There are probably 2200 hundred people here, which is a record for us.”

Taste the County is the non-profit group that has organized the Taste! celebration since 2002. The event has grown from its modest beginnings to what is now a much-anticipated culinary showcase, attended by vendors from throughout the region and visitors from beyond provincial boundaries.

Over the years, Taste the County has added to its roster of food-and-drink-oriented events with the aim of promoting Prince Edward County to foodies and food-curious visitors. The Taste the County group calls itself a destination marketing organization, and functions with monies granted from municipal and provincial bodies as well as memberships and fundraisers like the Taste! event.  The group employs at least two people full-time, year-round and hires additional help whenever possible. The staff works out of a modest office in the basement of the Bloomfield Town Hall.

Under the Taste the County umbrella, two other local events have sprouted and grown: Countylicious and Maple in the County. “The Maple and Countylicious events grew out of a demand from our partners to attract more visitors in what we call the ‘shoulder seasons’ of spring and fall,” explains Kennedy. Maple in the County is a festival of the maple syrup harvest that runs throughout the county each March. Countylicious is a festival featuring prix-fixe menus at participating restaurants each spring and fall.

Members of Taste the County – or partners, as Taste calls them – can include anyone, although membership generally attracts local restaurants and accommodation venues like bed and breakfasts. Many of Taste’s initiatives have gone on to win national and international awards for their success at promoting and attracting tourists to Prince Edward County. The organization itself won recognition upon its inception in 1999 with the Ontario CDC Economic Development award. Since then, Taste the County has attracted countless plaques, trophies and general commendations for its events and marketing techniques.

The proud staff at Taste is quick to point out the organization is more than a marketing machine for food-and-drink events. Kennedy says other work done by the group includes organizing and promoting the award-winning Taste Trail and Arts Trail, which each have an annual brochure including a map of attractions on driving tours within Prince Edward County. Taste the County also publishes what director of partnership and sales, Grace Nyman, calls “an experience map”. “It’s very visitor-friendly, we’ve got everything for visitors to do all on one map.”

With the Taste! celebration behind them, the small tireless staff at Taste the County show no signs of slowing down. Only a week after the rush of the event at the Crystal Palace, Kennedy and Nyman are already organizing the Countylicious event for this November.

• Countylicious, a festival featuring prix-fixe menus at participating restaurants each spring and fall, Nov.4-29, 2010
• Maple in the County, a festival of the maple syrup harvest that runs throughout the county, March 26 & 27, 2011
• Taste! A celebration of regional cuisine, Sept. 24., 2011