The Steinbach Chamber of Commerce hosted their very first Taste of Steinbach last night. 

Gwen Reimer from the Steinbach Chamber says even though there was rain and thunderstorm watches right before the outdoor banquet, she was very happy with the way the evening turned out. 

“We had a very interesting afternoon, but weather is not something that we control, and I think the evening couldn't have turned out better. We didn't have bugs, we didn't have so much heat, just a gorgeous evening.” 

At first, the whole event was going to be outside, but as the weather changed, so did the plan. 

“We had the tables completely set and when the weather took a turn, we just wrapped everything in plastic and just made a very quick decision that we would move our cocktail hour into the curling rink.”  

Cocktail hour inside the curling rinkCocktail hour inside the curling rink.

As guests arrived at 5:30pm for cocktail hour, the organizers were pulling off the plastic, resetting the tables, drying off the chairs, and preparing for the guests to come and enjoy their time outside. 

The table was set up along Elmdale Street.The table was set up along Elmdale Street.

She says it was an amazing thing for the community, and the turnout was great as there were around 360 people in attendance. 

“Right from the beginning we had an amazing response. People bought into it, they loved the idea, and the businesses were happy to showcase their products,” she says. “This was a really good way of supporting local food, supporting local retail, and just working with the community.”

Reimer says it’s amazing that the Chamber was able to have this first event be a success, and they will be evaluating how it went to see what the plan is moving forward. 

“This is a first-time event, and it's one of those that you have to debrief. You have to think 'what is this going to mean going forward? Are we going to do this again?' Just asking all those kinds of questions.” 

She says that overall, it was a great experience. 

“People enjoyed themselves, the dinner was amazing, very tasteful, and very well done. We had some comments that they just couldn't think of anything that could have been done better.” 

 

With files from Corny Rempel