Food and beverage vendors will have the opportunity this November to showcase their products here in what’s being touted as Spokane’s sampling show, called Northwest Taste. 

The show is owned and being organized by Ronda Swanson and Caroline Kloetsch under their company C & R Events LLC, Swanson says. Swanson also owns an advertising agency here called 828 Creative, and Kloetsch is an event planner. 

Northwest Taste will be held at the Spokane Convention Center on Nov. 8 and 9, Swanson says. Tickets for the show will cost $10 for adults and $6 for juniors.

The show is expected to have about 150 vendors, Swanson says. Vendors will supply samples of their food or drinks to attendees, she says. 

“We have a great variety of businesses from Seattle into Montana, and north and south of us,” she says. “It really is a celebration of all the amazing flavors of our area.”

In addition to vendors offering samples, the show will feature live cooking demonstrations by local chefs, Swanson says. The demonstrators will include Jeremy Hansen, owner and executive chef of Santé Restaurant & Charcuterie; Adam Hegsted, owner and chef of Wandering Table; and Joshua Martin, an instructor at the Inland Northwest Culinary Academy at Spokane Community College. 

The show also will include cookbook signings, live music, and a baking competition, she says. The baking competition will be broken into two categories, professional and home bakers. The competition is sponsored by Spokane-based Carolyn’s Cake, Candy, & Cookie Supplies, with prizes from Twigs Bistro & Martini Bar and Spokane-based baking supply company Fat Daddio’s. 

Mercedes-Benz of Spokane is the presenting sponsor for the show, Swanson says. Washington Trust Bank also is a major sponsor, as is the Chewelah Casino. 

Show guests also will be able to register for a raffle prize, Swanson says. The prize includes two tickets and backstage passes to Alton Brown Live at the Spokane INB Performing Arts Center, two nights at the Coeur d’Alene Resort, and a private cooking class from The Culinary Stone, in Coeur d’Alene. 

This is the first year for Northwest Taste, Swanson says. She and Kloetsch have been working on the concept for over a year, she says. 

“We researched other markets and saw there were great things going on in other regions, and there was a gaping hole in Spokane for what we’re doing,” she says.