First Annual International Food Festival set to kick-off July 10 in Vancouver
In a celebration of the diverse string of shops, restaurants and businesses lining Fourth Plain Boulevard, organizers planned to inaugurate the first annual 4th Plain International Food Festival on Saturday, July 10 at Warrior Field in Vancouver.
More than 15 restaurants are on tap to participate at the event, which will feature offerings ranging from Mexican, Indian to Greek cuisine. "I [felt] the time had come to simply press forward with the concept of an annual festival," said Sharif Burdzik, assistant vice president and team leader at First Independent Bank in Vancouver and the chair of the Fourth Plain Boulevard Business Coalition.
According to Burdzik, the food festival began as a way to draw visitors to this 2.5-mile-long stretch of Fourth Plain between St. John's Boulevard and Burton Road, which despite being one of Vancouver's busiest vehicular and mass transit corridors, is still often overlooked by diners and shoppers.
That's a goal shared by one of the Fourth Plain Corridor's oldest tenants, Butcher Boys, which will begin moving from its current location near Grand Blvd. to a bigger location at 4710 E. Fourth Plain Blvd. on the night of the food festival, according to manager Peter Kurfurst.
"We're trying to get people down here to check out the businesses they may not even know are down here," Kurfurst said.
The heavily-trafficked stretch of roadway has been the focus of increased attention from local elected officials, transportation engineers and Clark County's business community of late. A recent C-TRAN planning board meeting featured a proposal to establish a rapid transit corridor on Fourth Plain, with one draft of the plan calling for as little as four stops on a bus line stretching between Westfield Vancouver Shopping Mall and downtown Vancouver.
Both Business Coalition chair Burdzik and shop manager Kurfurst expressed reservations about the rapid bus proposal, which they said might end up bypassing many retailers, grocers and restaurants along the corridor.
"If the goal of the plan is to help Fourth Plain businesses survive, then they better get back to the drawing board," Kurfurst said.
However, despite the uncertainty, both men were optimistic that the International Food Festival would help revitalize the thoroughfare, drawing in Southwest Washington residents who may have traveled along this stretch of Fourth Plain on the way to work, but never considered stopping – much less shopping for a gift, picking out groceries or eating a three-course meal.
"It was important for this to be a celebration by the people who live and work in the area," Burdzik said. "[It's] a festival highlighting the positives of what we have to offer for residents of these neighborhoods and the rest of the county."
As of press time, there was still room for a few more spaces for local arts and crafts tables, community nonprofit groups and Fourth Plain businesses, according to event organizers. To inquire about a spot at the festival, contact Dawn Mohr at dmariemohr@hotmail.com for a space application form.
