Gemas’s, Valle Grande shine at Taste of Chilton

Published 4:37 pm Friday, October 20, 2023

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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

The fifth year of Taste of Chilton saw a familiar winner, and a first-time winner on Oct. 16 at Senior Connection in Clanton. The event has become a Chilton County staple since its inception in 2018, and it again welcomed in hundreds of hungry residents who made a line out of the door when the event began at 5:30 p.m.

Attendees got to taste close to 20 of the best restaurants and eats Chilton County has to offer under one roof. Once they tasted all of the booths, they voted for the best sweet, savory and overall food at the event.

In the sweet category, Gema’s Cupcakes made it three consecutive years winning the category with their variety of miniature cupcakes that came in different flavors.

“It is a joy to do it, and it comes easy to me,” Gema’s Cupcakes owner Lillian Rogers said. “It was an awesome thing to win, and I am so grateful I have this gift in my hands to do it.”

The flavors of cupcakes Rogers brought to the event included pecan pie, sweet potato soufflé with candied bacon, red-devil and strawberry cheesecake, red-devil cupcakes with and without nuts and key lime.

Maplesville’s Valle Grande Mexican Grill won its first, and second, Taste of Chilton crowns taking not only the savory category, but the overall win as well. Valle Grande’s Sergio and Monica Sanchez served up delicious meat and cheese quesadillas that wowed the tasters enough to win both categories.

Taste of Chilton is the Rotary Club of Chilton County’s and Senior Connection’s biggest fundraiser of the year.