NEW YORK: The Mesquite Chamber of Commerce’s Taste & Trade event returns Sept. 29 at Rodeo Center Exhibit Hall. The event allows attendees to sample food and learn about local businesses and what they offer.
The Mesquite Chamber of Commerce Taste & Trade event is less than two weeks away, and chamber staff is making a mad dash to get tickets sold. As part of their efforts to increase sales and give people more opportunities to purchase tickets, the chamber is extending its Friday hours and will open this Saturday and next.
“The chamber normally closes at 3 p.m. on Friday and remains closed for the weekends, but for the next two weeks, the chamber will remain open until 5:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon,” said Terry McCullar, Mesquite Chamber of Commerce CEO.
With ticket sales in line with last year, he expects somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 people to attend.
The event allows local business to showcase what they do to a large audience at an affordable price. This year’s event is schedule from 4-8 p.m. on Sept. 29 at the Rodeo Center Exhibit Hall, 1700 Rodeo Drive.
“The taste is what makes it fun and different from any other trade show,” McCullar said.
McCullar expects the event to have 65-70 vendors there to show off their services and goods, and between 80 and 24 different food vendors with all kinds of different options for tasting.
“For a lot of businesses it’s their big time to show off to a friendly, fun-loving audience,” McCullar said. “It’s a group of people who seek to enjoy themselves.”
The chamber uses the event to help supplement its operating revenue, which is generated from membership dues and other fundraising events.
“It’s our big fundraiser for the year. We also have a golf tournament, but it doesn’t do quite for us what Taste & Trade does,” McCullar said. “The funds help support everything the chamber does. We don’t have quite enough member income to do some of the things we are able to do because we have the fundraising events.”
Without the funds, the chamber would not be able to help sponsor organizations such as the Rotary Club of Mesquite, the Mesquite ISD Education Foundation and Hispanic Forum of Mesquite.
The Mesquite chamber is located at 617 North Ebrite St., or as McCullar calls it, “the one-story building on the street right behind the Kroger on Galloway.”
Taste & Trade tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children, ages 4-11. For information on the event, contact the chamber at 972-285-0211.
