(This article was written by Steven Hughes and was featured in the October 2024 issue of Explore Harlingen Magazine.)
An October 17 evening at the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum (HAHM) brings back another edition of Taste of Harlingen that exposes local flavors and history to event goers but also contributes to Harlingen’s preservation.
The board of the museum and volunteers work hard to plan out themes, live entertainment line-ups, advertising, and recruiting the stars of the show: Harlingen-based restaurants. The museum uses ticket sales from the event to maintain the historical buildings the HAHM houses while keeping the museum alive for over a decade.
“Taste of Harlingen is our annual fundraiser,” board member Frances Keim said. “We treat it like a party.” Each year’s fundraiser has a different theme for guests to dress up for.
Keim moved to Harlingen and became a board member for its arts and heritage museum during the 2000s, discovering that Harlingen natives and long-time residents didn’t know they had a museum. She emphasized that the long-time-running fundraiser helps get the museum’s name out.
This year’s theme is Oktoberfest, taking inspiration from the original Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. According to the Taste of Harlingen’s website, www.tasteofharlingen.com, event attendees can tour the foods from participating restaurants, bid in a silent auction with items donated by local businesses and individuals, and enjoy live music by Brett Marshall and the Disclaimers, a Rio Grande Valley jazz group. Keim added that although participating restaurants may not serve alcohol during Taste of Harlingen, the museum has a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission license to hand out beer and wine during the event.
Though the event has been an overall success, garnering enough funding for the museum’s continuous maintenance of Harlingen’s historical buildings and items, the coronavirus pandemic hit the event through the participating restaurants. Keim felt that the COVID pandemic’s shutdowns hit restaurants hard enough to impact participation, noting past years had approximately 20 big and small restaurants while last year had only 11 participants. Regardless, Taste of Harlingen’s use of local restaurants ensures fun festivities while learning the flavors within the city.
According to the event’s website, the goal for this year’s fundraiser is phase 2 of the Harlingen’s First Hospital Project: bracing of the hospital’s walls. Keim explained that the walls aren’t the same as modern buildings — the city’s website noting the hospital opened in 1923. Phase 1 to repair the hospital foundation was completed in 2023.
Tickets for the event are available at the museum at 2425 Boxwood; the Greater Chamber of Harlingen at 311 E. Tyler; and online, https://myrgv-tickets.evvnt.events/events/taste-of-harlingen-10-17-2024. Cost is $75 in advance or $85 at the door.
For more information about the event, call HAHM at 956-216-4901.
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