The comfortable temperatures and mostly sunny skies during Saturday’s annual Taste of Bethesda meant a large increase in attendance compared to last year’s rainy and unseasonably cold event.
Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP) Director of Marketing and Communications Stephanie Coppula said between 30,000 and 35,000 people sampled the group of more than 50 restaurants in Woodmont Triangle. Last year’s event drew a reported 15,000 to 18,000 people, Bethesda Magazine reported.
The BUP, the county-supported nonprofit that maintains and markets downtown Bethesda, advertises that the event draws more than 40,000, a figure it reached in 2010.
It has become the signature annual Bethesda event, in a section of town known for its vast and diverse collection of restaurants.
Attendees paid $5 for four meal tickets. A full sampling at most restaurant booths typically cost three or four tickets.
“Come Back to Bethesda Day,” which ran in conjunction with the Taste on Norfolk Avenue near Wisconsin Avenue, raised $20,000 for The Children’s Inn at NIH, The Gazette reported.
