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Celebrating Clinton’s Diversity Through Food and Beer

Foodies mark your calendars: In an effort to celebrate the diversity found within Clinton as well as attract people to the downtown, the Chamber of Commerce and Placemakers are throwing an International Food and Beer Festival this summer.

The festival will take place on Friday, July 8 behind Town Hall from 4 to 8 p.m. with a rain date of Friday, July 15. Paul Orsini, the executive director of the chamber and a representative of Placemakers, said the idea for the event is to feature about 15 to 20 different vendors selling samples of food from different cultures.

Along with the food will be a stage where Orsini said the hope is to have different acts performing—everything from a dance troupes to music from different countries.

“We’ll also have alcohol there in the exact same set up as the SummerFest,” said Orsini, referring to the chamber’s annual street party and fireworks display.

The event has received all necessary permits and permissions to be held, said Orsini.

While Clinton is a majority White town like many other shoreline towns, it’s more diverse than one might assume off the bat. According to the latest census data, more than 10 percent of residents were born somewhere other than the United States and roughly the same number speaks a language other than English at home.

“It’s not really well known how diverse we are,” said Orsini. “The idea for the day is to give some visibility to the different cultures found in our town as well as attract an audience of people from all along the shoreline.”

Orsini said the idea for the festival actually sprung from a different conversation the Placemakers and the chamber had back in late January/early February.

“We were actually kicking around ideas about doing a winter carnival and maybe doing a skating rink and a bonfire. But ultimately we decided it was too late in the year for that,” said Orsini. “Then we started talking about doing something to highlight how diverse we are and we said what better way to celebrate than with food and beer?”

Orsini said that the organizers checked with local restaurants to gauge the interest in the festival.

“The response thus far has been fantastic,” Orsini said.

Once the ball was rolling, Orsini said the organizers followed the same blueprint that the chamber follows when organizing the SummerFest to get all the ducks in a row as far as requesting the required permits and permissions.

“It’s exactly like the SummerFest, just with a more streamlined budget and planning,” said Orsini.

Orsini stressed that the food and beer festival is not meant to be held instead of the SummerFest.

“This is not going to infringe on SummerFest. That’s basically an all-day event and will be held in August. This is a separate event that will hopefully get people out to celebrate and draw people into town,” said Orsini.

Orsini said that there is a group of seven people meeting regularly that is helping to plan the festival and that more details will be made available as the summer gets closer.

“We have a lot of folks who are ready to volunteer now and as we get closer, we’ll share more of what we have planned,” said Orsini.