Taste of Texarkana featured something for everyone. There were wings, BBQ, nachos, sliders and more.
The smell of delicious food greeted hundreds of people who attended the event at the Four States Fairgrounds Tuesday evening.
Naaman's Championship BBQ had a booth in the fairgrounds arena where hundreds of people milled about tasting samples from more than 40 vendors. Naamans' gave samples of tender, spicy meat and cheesy corn, made from Owner Darby Neaves' mom's recipe.
Having a chance to allow hundreds of people taste his restaurant's savory food was an opportunity Neaves couldn't pass up.
"It's priceless to have people who've never eaten our food here tasting it and watching their expression," he said. "I think it's great. It's a win/win for everybody."
James Petitt attended the event for the first time.
"I'm most excited about the food," he said. "It shows variety and people's skill set. Also you get a sense of community too. It's hard to find things to do in Texarkana. This is a break from the norm."
Debbie Bollier attended for the second time.
"The food brought me back. It was delicious. There is no other event like this," Bollier said.
The event is a fundraiser for Harvest Regional Food Bank, an organization that provides food to the area's hunger insecure population through several different programs.
Organizers set a goal to raise $35,000.
"I absolutely think we'll reach our goal," said Camille Wrinkle, Harvest executive director. "We'll know for sure closer to the end of the night but we're very close to hitting our goal now. These funds are very important to our organization. They go toward all of our feeding programs and help us secure food that we are able to provide our food pantries throughout the 10-county area we serve."
Taste of Texarkana takes a lot of planning.
"We start working months in advance. We want to thank all of our restaurants and beverage sponsors for coming out and participating in this again. We know this takes resources on their end to take a night out of their business to bring staff and food to an event like this. We are always amazed at the generosity of the community and business community to come out and support something like this and help us out," Wrinkle said. "And of course we couldn't put on such a big event without the help of some very generous sponsors. In particular we'd like to thank Dr. Ly and Aaron Gaylor and McLarty Ford for their support throughout the year but especially as presenting sponsors of this event. I also want to thank the other sponsors throughout our community who've supported this event. Without them tonight wouldn't be possible."