Food lovers are about to have a taste of the best Meridian has to offer.

Meridian Home & Style’s Taste of Meridian presented by NovaCopy is a new event, which invites everyone to enjoy an afternoon and evening of fun on Oct. 17, with the area’s restaurants and boutiques.

If You Go

Vendors scheduled to appear include Kem’s, Harvest Grill, Dickey’s BBQ, IHOP, The Paint Store, Cater’s Market, Popeyes, Mom & Pop’s, Squealers, Croft Creations, Brickhaus, Weidmann’s, Jean’s Restaurant, Smoothie King, Fudge Etcetera and The Rustler.  

Tickets for Meridian Home & Style’s Taste of Meridian presented by NovaCopy are available for $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Tickets can be purchased at The Meridian Star’s office, 814 22nd Ave. Meridian, the EMBDC office, 200 22nd Ave. Meridian or by phone at 601-693-1551.

If you have questions about Taste of Meridian or would like to be a vendor, please call Mandy Farrow at 601-693-1551.

Meridian Home & Style’s Taste of Meridian presented by NovaCopy will showcase the people and businesses that give Meridian its flavor. Taste of Meridian will feature local restaurants, providing samples of their dishes and the opportunity to get an early start on holiday shopping with local merchants.

“We are excited to showcase our community’s finest foods and merchants under one roof for everyone to conveniently experience,” said Alexander Gould, Meridian Home & Style publisher.

Headlining the event will be Mississippi’s own chef Robert St. John, a restaurant owner, author, columnist and television personality. St. John, a Mississippi native, will be on hand to speak to guests, autograph books and mingle with attendees.

“It’s Taste of Meridian, so really I just looking forward to getting up there and sampling the wares and talking about Mississippi cuisine and what it means to Mississippians , and Take some Q&A.”

Hotel and Restaurant Supply will be providing $500 worth of door prizes which will be given out to lucky attendees.

St. John’s food columns appear in 24 newspapers, including The Meridian Star. He just completed his 11th book, a watercolor with Wyatt Waters, “A Mississippi Palate,” due out Nov. 1. It includes Waters’ art with Mississippi heritage recipes. St. John and Waters also have a television series, “Palate to Palette,” which is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Thursdays beginning Oct. 12.

St. John owns four restaurants and two bars in Hattiesburg, the first, the Purple Parrott Cafe, opened in 1987, but he’s very familiar with Meridian.

“I spent a lot of time in Meridian. I like that place; I really do,” St. John said. “I always do book signings at Cater’s Market there. I’m looking forward to being there. It’s not just saying it. I do. It’s going to be fun.”

Taste of Meridian is scheduled from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17 at the Tommy E. Dulaney Center, 915 Hwy. 19 N. Meridian.

Tickets for the event are available for $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Tickets can be purchased at The Meridian Star’s office, 814 22nd Ave. Meridian or by phone at 601-693-1551.

If you have questions about Taste of Meridian, please call Mandy Farrow at 601-693-1551.