TasteMakers: A (Free) Night of Music, Food and Culture in Visalia

Looking for new things to do in Visalia? Sound N Vision Foundation’s Tastemakers Festival is the place for just that.

Tastemakers Festival is taking place from 4 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 19. Following the Arts Consortium’s Taste The Arts event Tastemakers will return to the Downtown Lumberyard for a night filled with music, craft food and beer.

The highlight of the event will be a performance by the SNV Foundation Youth band — a collection of students from the foundation’s year-round youth music classes.

“This year our event is on the same day as the Arts Consortium’s amazing Taste The Arts event. We thought that since our mission aligns so well with theirs that it’d be fun to combine the two events for an all-day and night celebration of the arts,” says SNV Foundation director Aaron Gomes.

Unlike previous years where people are charged a fee to attend this event, this year it is free.

“We’ve always charged a ticket fee to get into our event, and we always draw from our loyal supporters.” Gomes says “But this time our intention is the expand our audience so more people can discover what we are doing in the community.”

The SNV Band will be joined by SNV Dancers and local favorites The Box, BRIM, PIMS, Call Me James and The Charities.

On the menu will be Quesadilla Gorilla and Pita Kabob, along with a selection of beers provided by Fresno’s Tioga Sequoia.

The SNV Foundation is a nonprofit who has taken an integral role in building a music hub in the city of Visalia. It began by booking emerging artists from an array of genres to tap into the energy of the community and create unique cultural experiences, but has since grown to become much more.

All funds raised at Tastemakers through sponsorships, beverage purchases and donations, will support the classes and enable SNV to continue bringing national touring acts and critical cultural experiences to venues like Visalia’s Cellar Door, as well as other Visalia-area locations.

For more information, visit Tastemakers at www.tastemakersfestival.com.