Radio and TV personality Peter “King of Cuisine” Dills of KABC-AM 790 TalkRadio is the celebrity ambassador of Taste of Arcadia 2013 on Sept. 23.
Dills will walk the Hollywood-style Red Carpet Experience created by Printing Control and The Executive Factor and take photos with attendees, and will have his own booth near the first-ever T.G. Metzger State Farm Insurance Monday Night Football Lounge where he will talk food and sign autographs. He will also be one of several judges of the Taste of Arcadia Culinary Contest (details of contest below).
In the weeks leading up to the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce annual event that City officials describe as “the signature event of Arcadia,” Dills is doing live radio interviews with owners of some of the 45 local food and beverage vendors that will be serving their dishes and drinks to about 1,000 attendees at no extra charge beyond the cost of admission. (Tickets $60 in advance – $70 at the gate; $10 discount for Chamber members.) His popular weekly Food and Travel radio show “Dining with Dills” airs at 5 p.m. every Sunday night with video replays available.
The son of noted restaurant critic Elmer Dills, Peter Dills and his family moved to Pasadena in 1970 from the “Crab Capitol of the World,” Baltimore. As far back as he can remember Peter was following his father from restaurant to restaurant, always tasting, always learning about food and always discovering new and exciting foods.
As his food adventure comes full circle, Dills’ stars on TV and his KABC radio show, “Dining with Dills,” is named after his father.
“We all have to eat and most of us eat out fairly often. So, why not eat well? I feel that it’s my job to tell diners about some of the places where they can indeed eat well.”
“Dining with Dills” airs on KABC-AM 790 TalkRadio Sundays at 5 PM. TV segments air at 7 PM on Charter 101 Sat & Sun, CNN Channel 49 and the daily on the OC Channel.
Taste of Arcadia, which draws about 1,000 guests who enjoy the many different foods and tastes from the best local restaurants, caterers and wine-and-beer vendors, is set to run from 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. Monday, September 23, in the lush setting of the L.A. County Arboretum. Dills, along with Chef David Flood of Flooded with Flavor Catering Company, and others will judge anonymously, will sample food, desserts and drinks from dozens of vendors throughout the entire evening. Winners will need to be present and still serving to guests when judges announce their selections near the end of the event at 9 p.m. in the following categories:
- Best of Show
- Most Innovative Dish
- Best Savory Item
- Best Dessert Item
- Best Presentation
The Culinary Contest is only one of many features and activities planned for this year’s Taste of Arcadia and Business Showcase at the Taste, the latter of which features an additional 45 business exhibitors, including car dealers with about a dozen of the newest model cars:
- The new Red Carpet Experience will make you feel like star in front of the paparazzi as you have photo ops with Dills, Mexico movie star Alejandro Alcondez, the exotic Brazilian dancers, and Emmy-winning nature documentarian Adam Ravetch, and other surprise guests. Pictures will be posted on the Chamber’s Facebook and available on the Chamber web site to those who provide e-mail for notification.
- The Monday Night Football Lounge will offer live viewing of the game between the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos on a 46-inch HD big-screen that will be raffled off just before 9 p.m.
Other attractions include:
- A classic car show featuring 10 models from the 1950s and 60s presented by Wayne Williams of Professional Advisory Services
- The popular Lounge-O-Rama band playing swing, Big Band and Standards early in the evening, and shifting to classic pop rock after dark
- The popular exotic Brazilian dancers
- Highlights of the Emmy-winning and soon-to-be-released “Ice Bear” on a 65-inch Panasonic HD display and Blu-ray player
- MonArc Face Painting — let the popular Taste of Arcadia wine glass/peacock logo live a little longer with a temporary tattoo on your cheek or arm!
- The Arcadia High School drum line serenading attendees as they arrive.
None of it would be possible without the following unprecedented number of sponsors:
- Presenting Gold Sponsor: Westfield Santa Anita (also year-round Community Builder Presenting Sponsor Member)
- Business Showcase at the Taste Sponsor (first-ever) – Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary (also year-round Keystone 365 Connection Sponsor Member of the monthly Networking Breakfasts and first premium sponsor of Chamber’s planned new Digital Display sign board
- Silver Sponsor, Classic Car Show: Professional Advisory Services, Wayne Williams
- Silver Sponsor: Methodist Hospital
- Silver Sponsor: Wells Fargo, Baldwin Avenue
- Silver Sponsor: Breeders’ Cup
- Silver Sponsor: Merrill Lynch, Arcadia
- Red Carpet Sponsor: Printing Control-Jerry Dominguez and The Executive Factor-Andrew Gregson
- Monday Night Football Lounger Sponsor: State Farm, T.G. Metzger
- Ticket Sponsor: Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority
- Gift Bag Sponsors: Century Rooter Service and Plumbing; Vons
- Live Music Sponsor: City of Arcadia’s Shop Arcadia and Arcadia Transit
- Tram Sponsors: Arcadia Association of Realtors; Southern California Edison
- The Roost Sponsor: Dolphin Event Services
- Media Partners: Beacon Media’s Arcadia Weekly
- Parking Light and Support Services: Jan’s Towing
And the tireless Taste of Arcadia Committee of Volunteers, including:
- Bruce McCallum, CTO (Chief Taste Officer)
- Pete Siberell (Santa Anita Park), Administration & overflow parking
- Gil Stromsoe (Mark Shaefer Associates), Budgetary controls
- Aaron Rose (Avid Learning Resources), Volunteers
- Jerry Pavelec (Nancy Bond Insurance), Businesses Showcase exhibitors, including new car dealers and classic cars, and overall support
- Vicki Knight (Century Rooter Service and Plumbing), Business Showcase exhibitors support, and food/vendor recruiter, overall support
- T.G. Metzger (State Farm Insurance), Ticket sales, Promotion/Publicity/Marketing/Advertising, Monday Night Football Lounge
- Wayne Tay (Town & Country Event Rentals), Overall Facilities, Logistics, Layout
- Errol Simonitsch (Dolphin Rents), Rentals
- Bill Geist (Event Power), Electrical
- Mike Real, Food/Beverage vendors and Culinary Contest
- Don Fandry (Elks Lodge) & Bruce Snell, Security, Parking Control
- and Chamber staff Taste of Arcadia coordinator Jan Shimmin, CEO Scott Hettrick (sponsors, entertainment, publicity, co-marketing/promotion/advertising), and support staff Bonnie Wilbur and Cherry Liu.
