A ‘Taste’ of much more to come

Food, music event kicks off Takoma Park’s festival season

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette Members of Takoma Park Middle School’s step team perform in the food court at the annual Tastes of Takoma held Sunday on the campus of Columbia Union College. Click here to enlarge this photo Two-year-old Takoma Park residents (from left) Zoey Schoeneman-Frye and Isabel Kinnander dance to the sounds of Shapiro, a band from Harrisonburg, Va.

Children crowded around two moon bounces on the college lawn while parents enjoyed a variety of food and music Sunday afternoon. It was the first of a series of free community festivals that take place each year in Takoma Park and the neighboring Takoma neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Politicians greeted potential voters, nursing students gave free health evaluations and people from around the area lined up for a sampling of international and domestic cuisines.

‘‘It’s getting bigger and better each year,” said Takoma Park’s Larissa Guran as she, her mother, Ann, and 4-year-old daughter, Ainsley Priest, snacked on Ethiopian food and funnel cake. ‘‘It was kind of weak four or five years ago, but this is great.”

Tastes of Takoma organizers made an effort this year to expand the festival’s offerings, bringing in new genres of entertainment and restaurants while welcoming back some familiar ones. And the newcomers proved to be popular: Abiti Restaurant, serving Ethiopian fare, and Chef Hogate Thai Mastergrill both had steady business throughout the afternoon, while R&B singer Carter Anderson and the Takoma Park Middle School Step Team pleased the crowd with song and dance.

Negash Shifraw from Abiti Restaurant said he was able to introduce some people to the food of his native Ethiopia while showing others the vegetarian entrees available.

‘‘For us, this is really exciting because it’s our first time, too,” he said as he cut pieces of injera, a pale spongy bread also used in place of utensils for picking up and eating prepared dishes. ‘‘Today has been really nice.”

While the Tastes of Takoma food court remained busy, one of the most popular spots on Columbia Union’s lawn was the children’s area, which featured moon bounces based on the popular animated movie ‘‘Finding Nemo,” and another taken from a prehistoric scene called ‘‘Jurassic Adventure.” Children scrambled to scale an erupting volcano in the middle of the attraction, while others were content to simply dive and bounce over the inflated heads of snakes and dinosaurs.

The music also proved to be popular with the festival’s youngest visitors. As a troupe of Latin dancers on the stage moved in time with the music, several parents swung their infants and toddlers through the air. Graham Stadtler, just 15 months old, hung on to his dad’s index fingers as he took a few cautious steps on the lawn; moments later, the young Stadtler was on all fours, moving quickly toward his mom.

Tastes of Takoma is a great way to get out, meet your neighbors and enjoy a sunny day, Monica Stadtler said.

‘‘I would imagine that most of the people here are locals, and that’s nice,” Stadtler said. ‘‘We’re through here all the time on walks, and Graham was born at Washington Adventist, so we’re familiar with the grounds.”