Taste of the Town returns April 28 to Clover

Guests could come to support innovative ideas in education, to support local teachers looking to get the best out of their students. Or, they could come because they’re hungry.

The second annual Taste of the Town runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. April 28 at Clover High School. The event features 10 restaurants and food service providers, including culinary students and staff from the school. Money raised goes to the Clover Leaders for Educational Advancement Foundation, or Clover LEAF.

“It was founded as a nonprofit group to raise support for the Clover School District,” said Ginger Marr, foundation board member. “The process is going on right now. They are planning to award 14 grants this year.”

Clover LEAF has been around 30 years. The organization awarded more than $110,000 in total to district teachers for projects and activities. Teachers in the Clover School District may apply for grants, with at least 10 awarded annually.

“We give grants to teachers up to $1,000, and we’re just promoting innovative ideas,” said foundation board member Lamay Vannavong. “We want to help teachers as much as possible.”

The foundation has held golf tournaments and other events in the past. Last year, they tried something different. It worked well enough to give it a go again.

“This is our second Taste of the Town,” Vannavong said. “This year we have double the restaurants participating that we had last year. We have a good mixture of restaurants in Clover and Lake Wylie.”

Concord Cove, River Rat, Carolina Chocolate Company and Lake Wylie Pizza and Italian Restaurant from Lake Wylie join Patti-O Grill, Eagles Nest, McGill’s Store Feed Room Grill and Courtney’s BBQ from Clover. The district food service provider, Chartwells, is participating. As are culinary arts students and staff.

Organizers are hoping the wide range of restaurants will create a community wide event.

“We have more restaurants this year, so we hope we’ll have more guests as well,” Marr said.

Tickets to taste are $15, or $25 per couple. All Clover schools and the district office have them for sale, and some tickets will be available at the door. Organizers are hoping for 100 or more guests.

The event this year comes right before the Clover High Choraliers spring show opening night performance, Big River, at the district auditorium. Taste of the Town organizers figure guests can make a night out of supporting local schools.

“We hope that would entice people to want to go to both,” Vannavong said.

With all the success of Clover LEAF, opportunity remains. This year 30 proposals, just more than twice what funding supported, came from throughout the district. The group realizes it’s a small part of educating district students, but an important one as it helps teachers on a path toward new ideas.

“Let us help you at least get it started,” Vannavong said.

For more on the foundation or event, visit cloverleaffoundation.net.

This story was originally published April 22, 2016 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Taste of the Town returns April 28 to Clover."