Taste of SoMo, an annual celebration of local food and drinks, is returning this summer.

The event at Park Central Square on August 28, includes food tasting, soft drinks and beer sales and live music.

You can buy a sheet of ten tasting tickets for $10. 

The event raises money for Ozarks Food Harvest. 

You can read more with the press release posted below…

SPRINGFIELD, MO — Taste of SoMo, presented by SGC Foodservice, is back in 2021. The annual celebration of southwest Missouri’s most delicious food and drink is set for Saturday, Aug. 28, on Park Central Square. Participant applications are now available.

This family-friendly event will include food tasting, soft drinks and beer sales and live music starting at noon. The food tasting stops at 4 p.m., but drinks and music will continue until 5 p.m. on the square. Admission is free and tasting tickets are $10 for a sheet of 10.

The event raises money for Ozarks Food Harvest. COVID-19 presented a perfect storm for The Food Bank in the past year. A combination of increased demand, declines in donations of food and disruptions to the supply chain made feeding families in southwest Missouri more difficult than ever before.

The Food Bank estimates that 1 in 5 children and 1 in 7 adults in the Ozarks are experiencing hunger due to the impact of the pandemic. Many families are receiving food assistance for the first time or for temporary relief during periods of unemployment. To meet the increased demand, Ozarks Food Harvest is continuing to distribute meals at an elevated rate to move the needle and close the meal gap. In the past year, Ozarks Food Harvest has hosted more than 120 Mobile Food Pantries, purchased an additional $3.6 million worth of food and provided a record-breaking 23.5 million meals for its network of 270 hunger-relief organizations.

Aug. 28 is a new date for Taste of SoMo, held the past few years in June. The late August date will give college students moving to Springfield a chance to be immersed in the region’s food culture.