Taste of Watkinsville welcomes students with free food

Local restaurants and other eateries descended on GSCO for the annual Taste of Watkinsville. From the usual chicken and pulled pork, to the down home cooking combo of seafood and grits, the student quad was vibrant with the free food in the air.

From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. businesses rolled up their sleeves supplying the food in hopes of attracting new customers to their restaurants.

“I hope we do gain new customers in the college market,” said Richard Miley.

Miley represented Chops & Hops, a steakhouse in downtown Watkinsville, by bringing shrimp and grits.  Other businesses making an appearance included: Barberitos (Mexican), Dickey’s (Barbeque), Mirkos Pasta (Italian) and Inoko (Japanese).

Students line up to try samples from various Watkinsville restaurants.

While local businesses gained some publicity with this event, questions might be raised about the business at GSCO.  While Café:ine looked open for business, owner Eric Kriel had no choice but to close for a few hours due to the lack of business.

“Events like taste of Watkinsville and the welcome back grill out yesterday shut me down,” Kriel said. “Luckily huge events like these are rare.”

Kriel went on to apologize for shutting down his business during the event.

“After hearing that the restaurants didn’t provide any beverages like last year, I want to apologize to anyone that came by and could not get a tasty beverage.” said Kriel.

Overall, the event went over well for the students and the businesses who participated.