The Taste for Los Al returns this Saturday night, Oct. 19, for its 13th straight year of food tasting and fund-raising to benefit activities and facilities at Los Alamitos High School.
Forty-two local restaurants will offer their fare at the event, which will again be held from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Shops at Rossmoor in Seal Beach, in the parking lot behind Sprouts and PetSmart. Food sampling takes place in the first two hours.
The Taste, which is completely parent-driven, has become one of the community’s largest fund-raisers, consistently drawing crowds of around 3,000 people and raising over $200,000 annually. Over its 12-year history, the event has generated nearly $2 million to support Los Alamitos High School activities and facilities. The majority of those funds go directly to the 23 participating Los Alamitos High School booster clubs via ticket sales, raffles, gear sales, and one of the area’s largest silent auctions.
For the first time, the silent auction will feature a premium section where booster clubs can showcase their top offerings. This section closes at 8:30 p.m., with the rest of the auction closing at 9 p.m.
Also participating this year is the Friends of the Los Alamitos-Rossmoor Library as part of their Front Porch library improvement campaign. Because so many high school students use the library, the event organizers felt it appropriate to let the Friends group participate.
With a strong possibility that USC and UCLA football as well as Dodger baseball can all be on the air during the event, organizers have arranged to have four televisions on site to provide coverage of all the sporting events that night.
Coordinating the event is OUR Los Al, a non-profit, which not only handles all the event logistics (about $60,000 each year) but has also donated its profits over the years to a wide variety of Los Al High School needs. The group spent nearly $250,000 on the research and planning for the school’s soon-to-be-opened all-weather track, and has donated to many other booster improvements, including the gym scoreboard, softball fences and backstops, tennis windscreens, trainers room improvements, repair of landscaping equipment, soccer and lacrosse field improvements and more.
People who can’t make it to the event, may still contribute to the cause by patronizing the participating restaurants – either as a family, by catering for business meetings, or by scheduling group fund-raising nights.
This makes it easier for them to continue to donate their food year after year.
Continuing their unblemished record of participation are four local restaurants – Hof’s Hut, Sango Sushi, Callender’s Grill, and the Yucatan Grill – who have now been providing food at all 13 Taste for Los Al’s.
More information on the event is available online at www.tasteforlosal.com. Tickets can also be bought online for $45 through today, or can be bought at the gate for $50.
