Did you go to these amazing Derby events?

Arts Insider Gioia Patton shares her experience of last year's Taste of Derby Festival and Taste of the Oaks events. Learn more about this year's events at kentuckyderby.com/tasteofderby.

2013 Annual Taste of Derby Festival
Benefiting Dare to Care Food Bank
Story & photos by Gioia Patton/Arts Insider

Taste of Derby 2013 (L to R) Louisvillians Jennifer Meinhart, Brett Oppenheimer, Laurie Oppenheimer, Chris Meinhart, Sara Mills and Julie Cooper

I’ve attended the annual Taste of Derby Festival event, which is the largest fundraising event for Dare to Care Food Bank, for six consecutive years. The thing that stands out most in my mind about this fundraiser (yummy food and beverage samples notwithstanding) is that no matter what time I arrive at its Louisville Slugger Field Hall of Fame Pavilion location, the Pavilion is always jam-packed with smiling ticket-holders enthusiastically waiting in line for samplings from more than 50 of Louisville’s finest restaurants and beverage companies.