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<\/a><\/p>\nFORT MYERS,\u00a0Fla. (Sept. 10, 2014) \u2013 Additional restaurants have signed up to participate in the\u00a0Junior League of\u00a0Fort\u00a0Myers, Inc<\/a>.\u00a032nd<\/sup>\u00a0Annual Taste\u00a0of the Town<\/a>\u00a0to be\u00a0held on\u00a0Sunday,\u00a0Nov. 2\u00a0from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will once again be held at JetBlue Park, the Boston\u00a0Red Sox\u2019s 106-acre Spring Training and Player Development Complex, located at 11500 Fenway South Drive in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n The Junior League\u2019s Taste of the Town is Southwest Florida\u2019s original \u201ctaste\u201d event and one of the largest outdoor food and entertainment festivals drawing nearly 10,000 people each year. The funds from this annual event benefit the JLFM, whose volunteer mission provides thousands of dollars annually in volunteer services and donations to programs supporting women and children in the region. These programs include the Junior League\u2019s national program Kids in the Kitchen to help fight childhood obesity, the\u00a0<\/em>ongoing work with at-risk girls in the juvenile justice system, as well as work throughout the community in partnership with many organizations through the League\u2019s Helping Hands\u00a0program, which provides volunteer woman-power to organizations such as Big Brother Big Sisters, the Abuse Counseling & Treatment Shelter, Early Learning Coalition, the Supporting Independent Young Adults organization and many more.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s event raised more than $114,000 for these organizations.<\/p>\n To date, 40 restaurants have signed up to participate in the annual event including\u00a0Aurelio\u2019s Pizza, Bahama Breeze, Ben & Jerry\u2019s, Bice Grand Caf\u00e9, Burger 21, BurgerQue, Cabana\u2019s Beach Bar, Connors Steak & Seafood, Cru, Doc Ford\u2019s Rum Bar & Grille, EE-TO-LEET-KE Grill, El Gaucho Inca, Famous Dave\u2019s BBQ, Fathoms Restaurant, First Street Deli, Ft. Myers Ale House, Grace & Shelly\u2019s Cupcakes, Hooters, Iguana Mia, India Palace, Kona Ice, Lazy Flamingo, LongHorn Steakhouse, Marker 92, Norman Love Artisan Gelato, Origami, Papa Murphy\u2019s Pizza, Parrot Key, Pho Vinh Express, Pinchers Crab Shack, Reuben\u2019s Smokehouse & Catering, Ruth\u2019s Chris Steak House, Stevie Tomato\u2019s Sports Page, Ted\u2019s Montana Grill, Texas Roadhouse, Texas Tony\u2019s BBQ Shack, The Big Game, The Bubble Room, The Melting Pot, The Sandy Hook and The Sandy Parrot.<\/p>\n Live entertainment will include CTO High Voltage, the Ben Allen Band, Model Citisin and Little Eddie & The Fat Fingers. The entertainment will cover genres including country, 90s Rock and today\u2019s hits.<\/p>\n \u201cSupporting the community never tasted so good,\u201d said\u00a0Sasha Warren, 2014-2015 president of JLFM.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMany of our participating restaurants return year after year, and to us, this speaks worlds about our vendors, as this event provides an opportunity for them to not only connect with Southwest Florida on a business level but also to support people in need by participating in this charity event each year.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Prior to the annual Taste of the Town food festival, participating restaurants have the opportunity to present their dishes in the \u201cBest of Taste\u201d contest with local celebrities judging the following categories: Best Appetizer, Best Entr\u00e9e and Best Dessert. Judging will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at JetBlue Park. The dish with the most overall points is also given the \u201cWinner\u2019s Circle\u201d award for best overall dish. Winners in each category will be listed at each restaurant\u2019s booth, announced the day of the event, given a certificate to display in their restaurant and mentioned in a special press release announcing the winners in each category.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s celebrity judges include: Mark Loren, Kathryn Kelly, Drew Sterwald, Mike Duvall, Chris Fennell, Katie Haas, Brett Bodine and Representative Matt Caldwell.<\/p>\n \u201cThis event is so much more than a fundraiser; it\u2019s a win-win for our community,\u201d Warren added. \u201cTaste of the Town promotes and supports local businesses and the musical arts, creates resources for community service and brings our community together.\u201d<\/p>\n CenturyLink has signed on as a $2,500 Hospitality Sponsor. Florida Tracks and Trails will be sponsoring the Adventure Zone, which will provide a variety of activities for children. Additional sponsors include Waterman Broadcasting, RMC Consultants, Direct Buy and Gulfshore Life Magazine. Sponsorships are still available.<\/p>\n A\u00a0member\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Association of\u00a0Junior\u00a0Leagues\u00a0International,\u00a0Inc., the\u00a0Junior\u00a0League\u00a0of\u00a0Fort\u00a0Myers,\u00a0Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit\u00a0organization made up of\u00a0women\u00a0committed to promoting\u00a0voluntarism, developing the potential of\u00a0women\u00a0and improving\u00a0the\u00a0community\u00a0through the\u00a0effective\u00a0action\u00a0and leadership of\u00a0trained volunteers.\u00a0Its\u00a0purpose\u00a0is exclusively\u00a0educational and\u00a0charitable.\u00a0The JLFM is also a granting organization, providing mini-grants to organizations through out Southwest Florida\u2019s five-county area to programs that create better life outcomes for our area\u2019s youth. JLFM memberships are open to all women aged 21 and older of all races, religions and national origin who demonstrate an interest in and commitment to voluntarism.\u00a0For\u00a0more\u00a0information\u00a0about\u00a0the JLFM\u00a0League,\u00a0call\u00a0239-277-1197 or\u00a0visit\u00a0www.jlfm.org<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Limited applications are still being accepted for local restaurants to showcase\u00a0their\u00a0fare\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a02014 Taste of\u00a0the\u00a0Town. Interested restaurants and vendors can\u00a0contact the JLFM at 239-277-1197 or\u00a0totrestaurants@jlfm.org.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0For ongoing updates on Taste of the Town, visit\u00a0www.jlfmtaste.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FORT MYERS,\u00a0Fla. (Sept. 10, 2014) \u2013 Additional restaurants have signed up to participate in the\u00a0Junior League of\u00a0Fort\u00a0Myers, Inc.\u00a032nd\u00a0Annual Taste\u00a0of the Town\u00a0to be\u00a0held on\u00a0Sunday,\u00a0Nov. 2\u00a0from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[3077,3231,3078,3232,3079,2393,3233,73,3234,74,3235,3236,3080,3237,3238,3239,3082,3240,3241,3242,3243,3244,3083,3084,3245,75,3246,3247,3248,3085,3249,3086,3087,3250,80,663,664,2403,3251,3252,3253,81,82,3089,3254,3255,3256,3257,3258,3259,3260,3091,3092,3093,3094,3261,3262,3263,3095,3264,3265,3097,3098,3101,3102,3266,3267,3103,3104,3106,3268,3269,3270,2596,3108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}