Get a taste of all that the community has to offer

Three events highlight ‘Best of Bethesda’

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Chris Rossi⁄The Gazette James Gaddam tosses pizza dough into the air in the kitchen of Mama Lucia in Bethesda. The Italian eatery is one of 50 restaurants selling samples Saturday at the 17th annual Taste of Bethesda.

As part of Best of Bethesda Day, three events are taking place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday within blocks of each other, giving thousands of area residents a reason to visit.

The 17th annual Taste of Bethesda is a festival for food-lovers, featuring samples from 50 restaurants on sale for less than $5 each. The 16th annual Come Back to Bethesda Car Show is a contest for car owners and a must-see for car enthusiasts, featuring vehicles from as far back as 1947 and worth as much as $600,000. And the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad’s annual Rescue Day open house is a popular stop for children, with nine fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles on display, as well as a helicopter landing during the event.

‘‘Each event has its own unique aspect,” said Stephanie Coppula, spokeswoman for the Bethesda Urban Partnership, a nonprofit organization that promotes and manages downtown Bethesda. ‘‘People can come to different parts of downtown Bethesda and different [events] that appeal to them.”

People who wish to attend more than one event ‘‘could definitely walk,” she said, because all three events are taking place in and around the Woodmont Triangle.

There are about 200 restaurants established in the downtown area, Coppula added.

‘‘You can’t possibly eat at all 200 in a reasonable amount of time,” she said. ‘‘But you can come to the Taste and experience 50 of those restaurants.”

The event has widespread appeal and is exactly why the B-CC Rescue Squad began to hold its annual Rescue Day open house on the same day as the Taste of Bethesda six years ago, according to Kumar Vaswani, a rescue squad board member.

‘‘We wanted to take advantage of the crowds that were in such close proximity,” he said, adding that the event — which is held at the station, about two blocks from the Taste — has steadily grown since then.

Rescue Day features fire engines used by the B-CC Rescue Squad, as well as emergency vehicles from other nearby departments, like an antique fire engine from the National Institutes of Health Fire Department and an all-terrain ‘‘gator” vehicle from the Glen Echo Fire Department.

The U.S. Park Police will also fly a helicopter to the station and land in the parking lot for people to look inside and talk to medics.

Visitors will be able to see the vehicles, climb into them and learn about the different equipment firefighters and medics use, Vaswani said.

The purpose of the event is primarily to educate people about fire and safety issues and the services the squad provides, he said.

For people who donate money to the rescue squad, the event ‘‘brings in a lot of people who are interested in knowing where their money is going or how we’re using their money to benefit them,” he added.

At Chevy Chase Cars on Wisconsin Avenue, the dealership showroom that usually displays cars for sale will transform into a showroom for antique and modern cars competing for trophies and awards as part of the 16th annual Come Back to Bethesda Car Show.

‘‘We expect nearly 300 cars,” said Ron Evanish, of Chevy Chase Cars. ‘‘Good quality cars.”

And by ‘‘good quality,” he means expensive.

‘‘We already have $600,000 cars on the showroom floor on display,” Evanish said. ‘‘A lot of [owners] totally restore [their cars] from one end to the other. That’s where the cost comes in.”

The event benefits the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health and last year’s car show raised $24,000, said Meredith Daly, Children’s Inn spokeswoman. ‘‘We’re hoping to top that this year.”

For less than $20, vehicle owners pay for a spot in the show to display their cars, trucks and motorcycles and to compete for ‘‘best in class” and ‘‘best in show” awards. The best in show, which is determined by a panel of judges, including a ‘‘celebrity from Comcast SportsNet,” wins $500.

The car show also features a performance by The Nighthawks, a Bethesda-based blues band, and includes a variety of vendor booths, contests, a raffle and clowns.

The event has always coincided with the Taste and ‘‘our event attracts the same crowd,” said Nicole Hannans, who is coordinating the show for the Children’s Inn.

‘‘They just complement each other,” she said. ‘‘You can sample all the different foods at the Taste and also come to our event and just look at cars and enjoy the crafts and games.”

For more information on Taste of Bethesda, visit www.bethesda.org. For information on the Back to Bethesda Car Show, visit www.backtobethesda.org. And for Rescue Day information, visit www.bccrs.org.