New events to help attract tourists

There will be some sweet and savory events coming to Lorain County next month.

Representatives from Visit Lorain County gave a presentation at the Sept. 27 county commissioners meeting outlining two events that they hope will bring visitors to the county and send them back home with their stomachs full and their wallets a bit lighter.

Amanda Wright, marketing and sales coordinator for the visitor’s bureau, presented the details of the Cupcake Crawl. The crawl will consist of eight bakeries which will create confections inspired by their location or the season that will only be available during the crawl which runs throughout October.

According to a release

Wright distributed at the meeting, the eight participating bakeries will be: Kiedrowski’s Bakery in Amherst, Small Town Sweets in Vermilion, Blue Rooster Bakehouse in Oberlin, Little Devil Cupcakery in Amherst, The Hive Cake Studio in Amherst, A Cupcake A Day in Medina as well as Kelsey Elizabeth Cakes in Avon Lake

and Rocky River.

For those interested in taking part in the crawl, the first step will be to visit visitloraincounty.com/cupcakecrawl and download a map and passport.

Those who visit one of the listed bakeries and purchase one of the special baked goods can have their

passport signed by the bakers. The first 250 participants with a fully signed passport will receive a tshirt, but anyone who fills their passport will be entered for a chance to win the grand prize.

Jennifer Kennedy, interim director of the visitor’s bureau, gave a brief presentation on the Best Burger Battle which will be hitting 12 Lorain County casual eateries from Oct. 20 to Oct. 29.

Much like the Cupcake Crawl, the Best Burger Battle will feature specialty burgers not usually available on the restaurants’ menus, and they will be sold for $9.

Unlike the crawl, though, the battle will prove to be a true fight for supremacy in the burger game as each location will be distributing ballots so that participants can vote for their favorites. Voters can also participate online.

At the end of the competition a single restaurant will be crowned as home of the Best Overall Burger in the county.

According to a release distributed at the meeting, the 12 participating restaurants are: Avon Brewing Company in Avon, Bistro 83 in North Ridgeville, Brew Kettle Amherst, Cole’s Public House in Amherst, The Foundry Kitchen and Bar in Elyria, The Feve in Oberlin, Heck’s Café in Avon, Jackalope Lakeside in Lorain, Parker;s Grille & Tavern in Avon Lake, The Unicorn in Grafton, Tree House Gallery and Tea Room in Avon and Your Pit in Vermilion.

According to Kennedy, those who get their votes in by Nov. 3 will be entered into a drawing for a dinner for six at the winning restaurant.

County Administrator James Cordes said he doesn’t expect many people to come in from outside of the county for the battle, but he’s optimistic it will grow.

“Foodies don’t know boundaries,” he said. “Arts and the foods bring people in, then the spending starts. We have to start these events and we have to get a lot of headway in them then they’ll get bigger and bigger.”

He said that attendance may not be high for this year’s event, but if Lorain County residents support the events, in the second or third year it will grow.

“We have a lot of fine places to dine, we have a lot of casual eateries here and we need to first of all stop the outflight of our expendable dollars and start bringing in expendable dollars,” he continued. “That’s what our goal is,” he said.