Taste of Pooler returns with 20 local restaurants participating
After a three-year hiatus spurred by the pandemic, the Taste of Pooler returned Thursday night to the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force.
Folks waited outside the museum at least 30 minutes prior to the event, savoring the chance to sample 20 of Coastal Georgia's good eats.
Courtney Rawlins, president and CEO of the Greater Pooler Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, said her organization revived the event "to bring some notoriety to some of the Pooler restaurants. We sell tickets and everyone can come in and gets samples of everything. Hopefully they'll really like what they have and go check out the restaurant and have a full meal... Restaurants, and especially local restaurants, are really what build the character of a community."
Willia Dukes, who owns the restaurant Phat Girlz that opened in Pooler a month ago, said that she decided to participate in the event because she just wants people to actually know that she's here now. Phat Girlz, 221 Tanger Outlet Blvd, serves soul food staples, such as turkey wings, pigs' feet, collards and cabbage and candied yams.
Older businesses were there as well, like Polk's Plus, a family-owned and -operated fresh produce market for more than 75 years.
Owner Becky Polk Bashlor said that Polk's participated in the event because they love Pooler. "We used to do this before COVID, and we're doing it again... I hope it will bring us more customers. We're located on Highway 80 and we get customers every day that didn't know we were there."
Chataura Baul, a resident of Savannah, was one of the attendees of the event, and had come to it a few times prior to the pandemic beginning.
"I like coming out to try the diversity of the different cultures," Baul said. "I'm going to go try some of [the restaurants] soon. We like coming out to this area because it's like a getaway from the actual town."
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.come.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: After a three-year hiatus, Taste of Pooler returns with 20 restaurants
