A Taste of What Moreno Valley Has to Offer

“We like to bring awareness to the hidden gems and get people to get out and have a good time,” Oscar Valdepeña, President and CEO of the Moreno Valley Chamber of Commerce shared about the recent Taste of the Valley event. This year marked the 9th straight year that the Moreno Valley Chamber of Commerce has put on Taste of the Valley, which promotes numerous local restaurants, caterers, wineries, and the only local brewery in town, Kat Daddy Brewery. Some of the restaurants and caterers included Acapulco Mexican Restaurant Y Cantina, Chick-fil-A, Cold Stone Creamery, Cupcake Bar, Los Jilbertos Taco Shop, and Polly’s Pies, plus numerous others, some local only. The event took place at the Conference and Recreation Center in Moreno Valley on Saturday, June 28th, and attracted numerous locals to try out some of what their area has to offer. Valdepeña shared, “We initially started it to bring interest to local restaurants. We tell all of the vendors to bring their specialties to show the community what they have to offer.” And the vendors definitely brought their best. Dawna Dietz, a member of the community, thoroughly enjoyed what Edible Arrangements had to offer, saying, “It was delicious!” Pat Box, another member of the community, added, “Everything is yummy so far, plus we’re excited to earn a little extra funds for our Soroptimist Club.” Valdepeña also shared that “This is the ninth year. Every year we have a different crowd. It’s exciting to see people come and relax and have a good time. We’re hoping to do it big for next years ten year event.” He included that there were a lot of first timers this year, and there were also numerous places that have been coming since the first year the event started, such as Acapulco, Joe’s Italian Restaurant, Costco, the Falkner Winery, and a few others. Polly’s Pies came to the event with a few of their many pies, and Susan McDonald of Polly’s Pies shared that they not only wanted to promote their pies, but the restaurant “is very active in fundraisers and getting involved in the community.” Los Jilbertos Taco Shop was enjoying their first year at the event, and noted that what they had at the event was a small sample of what they offer at the restaurant, which also caters and has party trays, including their infamous Monster Burrito, which is a three-foot burrito. Fernanda Lopez of the Cupcake Bar shared that they are “at the moment a home bakery and mobile truck. We do catering and private events, and will come to you.” For this event, they brought only four out of their usual twelve flavors they keep at hand. The Cupcake Bar started as a small business that only did private orders here and there, but has been growing rapidly with great success. Lopez also shared, “We’ll be opening a shop soon in Moreno Valley offering our cupcakes plus an espresso bar.” Kat Daddy Brewery was quite a hit at the event with numerous people wanting to know where the only brewery in Moreno Valley is located. Kelly Smith of the brewery shared, “we are a nanobrewery here in town. We’re only open three days out of the week. We produce small batches of high quality craft beer. We’re the only brewery in town so we are here to draw some local attention to us.” The event was a great success, and the many local businesses that attended definitely made some new fans and spread the word about what they have to offer.