Food and football combined for a delightful evening for 600 guests Tuesday at the seventh annual Taste of the NFL, held at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. Greg Long and Gary Smith co-chaired the benefit for the Akron/Canton Regional Foodbank.
Dan Flowers, president and CEO of the food bank, and his wife, Holly, greeted guests along with Kat Pestian and Michele Hinton. Dan Flowers said the food bank has a wonderful base of community support, and thus is able to provide food for 82,000 meals every day.
“We are currently working on a strategic plan to determine what partnerships and collaborations are needed to meet future food needs,” he said. “Every dollar raised tonight provides four meals for a hungry child, adult or senior in our community.”
David Baker, hall president and executive director, and his wife, Colleen, enjoyed the event with his predecessor, Steve Perry, and his wife, Sondra. “This is a great event. Any time you can combine food and football, I’m in,” Baker said.
Hall of famers Joe DeLamielleure, Randall McDaniel, Anthony Munoz, Andre Reed, Dave Robinson, Ron Yary and Jack Youngblood were on hand to greet fans and sign autographs. Michelle Cohen was delighted to have Munoz sign her Cincinnati Bengals necklace.
Twenty-two area restaurants and food purveyors served their favorite dishes, Ed and Louise Mahoney and Alan and Roseann Henderson recommended Shy Cellars’ shrimp and grits; Juli Donlen liked the sushi served by Charlie Somtrakool at Cilantro’s booth; Dominic Rizzo, Andrea Company and Mark Butterworth recommended the rock shrimp ceviche with watermelon/mint yogurt from the Overlook; while Jordan and Amanda Austin liked the beef tenderloin bruschetta from the Galaxy.
Steve Smith of the Game Grille at Canal Park said the staff wasn’t serving duck, opting instead for bacon-crusted pork, as RubberDucks owner Ken Babby greeted friends. Molly Meeker poured wine from Meeker’s Napa Valley Vineyard; Todd Imhoff served wine from the Winery at Wolf Creek; and Dave Tidrick offered peach sangria from Georgio’s. Jon Yerrick enlisted his son Stan and daughter Jayne to serve desserts from Main Street Muffins.
David Baker lauded the hall of famers, noting the work they do with youth groups and charities.
Flowers announced Shy Cellars was the winner for the second year in a row, and would be competing in the national Taste of the NFL at the Super Bowl in 2016.