Some of the best Hopkinsville cooks that you’ve probably never heard about will all be in one place on Saturday for the Taste of the Town.
The event — from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hopkinsville Brewing Co. — is the brainchild of food truck co-owner Desaepa Vansauwa.
He wanted to bring together some of the area’s Black food entrepreneurs to highlight their talents on a weekend when many African Americans are observing the August 8th emancipation celebration.
- RELATED: Emancipation celebration Sunday at Pennyroyal Area Museum
- SUBSCRIBE: Sign up for Hoptown Chronicle’s newsletters
It’s a chance for the cooks to gain some new exposure and for the larger community to see what they might have been missing, Vansauwa said.
A mix of food trucks and tents will be set up on Fifth Street alongside the brewery serving everything from tacos and pulled pork sammies, to soul food, wings, seafood, Italian ice and flavored popcorn.
The vendors will include:
- Meals by Booch
- Motor City Eats
- Munchie’s BBQ
- Honey Bee’s Bakery
- Janae’s Italian Ice
- On the Flyy
- Kinfolk Catering (tentative)
- OverReal Meals
- Vansauwa’s Tacos and Vegan Eats
“Our goal is to kind of highlight the Black food scene, especially on a Black holiday that’s important to our region,” said Zirconia Alleyne, who is Vansauwa’s business partner and fiancee.
Some areas of the country celebrate the emancipation of slaves on Juneteenth, a holiday that began in Texas after federal troops brought the news on June 19, 1865, to enslaved people that the war had ended two months earlier, and that President Abraham Lincoln had emancipated them on Jan. 1, 1863. In other parts of the country, including many communities in Western Kentucky, emancipation is celebrated on Aug. 8, a date that some believe is when enslaved people in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee first heard they were free.
Most of the Black-owned businesses that will participate in Taste of the Town are from Hopkinsville. Some, who have a small circle of customers that know and appreciate their food, are looking to expand their reach to a larger following.
Alleyne and Vansauwa share their experience, from starting with a tent and a couple of coolers to purchasing a food truck, with others who are just getting started. Alleyne left her job as editor of the Kentucky New Era last fall to join the business full time.
Their first food event in Hopkinsville was at Hopkinsville Brewing a few years ago. They credit brewery co-owner Kate Russell with supporting a number of food vendors in the area.
Alleyne said she encourages others considering a food business to “get a tent, get a table, get a temporary food permit” and see where their skills will lead them.
During Saturday’s event, the city will block traffic from using Fifth Street between Main and Virginia streets.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
