Event Recap: The Taste of Oceanside, 2021

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The Taste of Oceanside, 2021

The Oceanside event, Taste of Oceanside was AMAZING! Craig and I ate delicious food, drank amazing coffee, and sipped on some wonderful cocktails. We showed up hungry, and went away not needing dinner for quite a few more hours. Below you can find Event Details, as well as highlights and lowlights, and our over all review. I hope you enjoy the summary!

The Event Details:

The event was hosted by Mainstreet Oceanside. The event essentially does exactly what the title says, it gives you a taste of a whole bunch of businesses in Oceanside. There were food spots, and sip spots. Each location had a bite or two (though I wish it was more) from their menu. Each host gave a quick summary about their business, and why they exist (If you know my love for small businesses, you know this was my favorite part). It went from 2-5pm, and after, we wished we had more room in our bellies to pick one of the spots and grab dinner. The tickets were $65 (mine were gifted, THANK YOU Mainstreet Oceanside) – and honestly, totally worth it for the amount of food and drinks you get.

Kaitey’s Ratings: 8/10

Craig’s Ratings: 8/10

The Best Parts of the Event:

The weather was perfect, a bit hot, but to be expected for a Summer afternoon. I loved the Sip Spots the best and for two reasons. One, because I never know what drinks to try when going out with friends, so I had sips of a whole variety of cocktails, and learned new drinks I like!

The second reason I liked the Sip Spots, was because they were supporting two businesses at once. The alcohol vendors were set up in non food/drink locations around Downtown Oceanside. So, we got to support a local shop (for example: surf shops, pottery shops, music studios) while also drinking our way through Downtown!

The Not So Great Parts of the Event:

The food was not a win for us. I have celiac disease, and there were hardly any gluten free options. If I were to submit an “improvement request” it would be that the map notes which places had gluten free. It wasn’t that there were none, but after stop #4 of fried food, we were a bit bummed! If I’m being honest, in California in 2021, it is a loss to not note what is and is not gluten free. Again, this was not a deal breaker for us because there were so many vendors, but it sure would have helped!

My Absolute Favorite Part:

100% hands down the most wonderful part of the event was a combination of what the event stood for (small businesses and local tourism), and the ice cream. Half way through, part of the event was to stop at Dairy Queen and we got soft serve ice cream. My all-time favorite dessert! We could really tell that this event was well put together, and lots of hard work went into the creation of the day. It’s amazing to see hundreds of people excited to shop small, and support local businesses!!

The Ultimate Event Review Question: Would I go again?

 I would! I would actually love to go with a larger group of people, and plan out a route ahead of time that had places we want to try. They give you a map, but we didn’t really use it until right before the event started. If there was a way to purchase just the drink tickets, I’d do that too…but I’m assuming the city of Oceanside doesn’t want people day drinking and increasing the amount of drunk pedestrians around. LOL

Our Favorite Taste of Oceanside Spots to Try:

These are the places I know I am going to go back to, to try an entire meal (or buy a bottle of booze):