Proprietors, managers and servers at Take a Bite in Glens Falls reported last night that business at the outdoor food festival was a hit, three weeks in. It runs Wednesdays through August.
The sun during the afternoon did not hurt the turnout, especially with temperatures in the 70s, but businesses have been saying, the rain has not hurt either.
Hundreds of people stood in line at various tables in the center of downtown to pick up small bites of food or to talk to vendors such as the Charles R. Wood Theatre, the World Awareness Children’s Museum, the Chapman Museum and the Adirondack Regional Cat Adoption Center.
As Glen Street from Centennial Circle to Bay Street was closed to vehicular traffic, people milled about freely as children drew pictures with sidewalk chalk. The event takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. so northbound traffic on Ridge Street stacked up bumper-to-bumper from the circle to Washington Street.
Vendors said the event has been a hit, as it has been in years past.
Carly Mankouski, owner of Ridici, a new restaurant at the event, said by the Fourth of July, “people set into vacation mode” and have been showing up, rain or shine.
She served waffle chicken and said she has been seeing people in Glens Falls as “overflow” of tourism from Lake George.
“We get a lot of out-of-towners,” said Megan Podrazik, the manager of Doc’s Restaurant. They were serving pulled pork sliders under a canopy on Glen Street.
Standing in the middle of Glen Street with his kids, wife and mother-in-law, Chris Szerejko said his family was hitting the tourism spots. From Connecticut, they had ridden the Minne-Ha-Ha on Lake George and planned a trip to the Saratoga Race Course. They were staying at an Airbnb in Glens Falls and the owner told them: “There’s this small plate tapas kind-of-thing” going on downtown. They chose it for dinner and were pleased, he said.
Restaurants at Take a Bite offer small plates of food at $1 to $5. The variety covered donuts, cake, sliders, smoothies, pasta, burritos, compotes and more.
“We just got here, but it’s good,” said Danielle Thomas of Long Island. She and her companion were visiting Lake George and saw Take a Bite listed favorably online. They arrived with their small dogs, Piper and Tanner.
Vendors said that business generally has been strong despite the rain this July.
“Thankfully, rain makes people want to come inside and eat,” said Christina Hanchett, of the Juicin’ Jar on Exchange Street. Podrazik echoed that almost exactly and added that her restaurant has seen a 10-fold increase in dinners sold over the last few months.
[Farmacy] server Dave MacIntosh, said people came to Take a Bite even if the weather was rainy or cloudy.
“Now, everyone is happy to be out. We can see people’s faces [without masks], so that’s cool,” he said.
“This is great for the community, this Take a Bite,” Podrazik said, adding that coordinating the event is a lot of work. “The [Glens Falls] Collaborative is great for putting this on.”
The Glens Falls Collaborative works to cross-promote and increase business flowing to downtown Glens Falls, their website says. FoothillsBusinessDaily.com is the media sponsor of the Collaborative.
Steve Thurston (2021)
Carly Mankouski of Ridici Restaurant serves waffle chicken at Take A Bite in Glens Falls, July 21, 2021.