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Tasting Bee: 50 years and still cookin’
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · April 27, 2017


Like the past 50 years, a long line formed early the night of the Tasting Bee on April 19 at West Branch United Methodist Church.


Yet Bev Spencer, who brought the fundraising idea from her Methodist church in Menlo, said the event changed over the five decades, though never straying too far from what worked.

Top tasty recipes from church members? Always. But the increased popularity and success of the event got more church members involved.

“When we first got started, each (cook) made three recipes because we didn’t have as many people,” she said. “At this … most people make one and some make two.”

A theme? You bet, to drive decorations. This year, they took a time trip, featuring pop culture from the last five decades. Tinkertoys, Pac Man, a portable 45-size record player and eight-track cassettes. A mirror ball and disco lights, a Jim Nabors album; Flower Power and a Mrs. Beasley’s doll. Hula hoops, tie-dye shirts and lava lamps. And all types of hard candy.

“Things have changed,” Spencer said.

One taste of each dish? Still a rule. With 30-plus appetizers, entrees and desserts, no one leaves hungry, she said. Each cook prepares enough for 250 single servings.

This reporter took his family and, with food laid out buffet-style, one must make a conscious effort to remember to just take one of each — whether it be a small serving of soup, one spoonful of dip, one slice of a wrap sandwich, one square of cake or fudge — no seconds.

“We try to make sure we have a taste for everybody,” Spencer said. “But once in a while, we run out of something.”

Profits go into the church mission fund? Without fail.

Each year, organizers produce a recipe book, which comes with each ticket so participants may take notes on favorites. Every dish is labeled for reference.

With participants showing up two to three hours before opening at 6 p.m. — dining does not begin until 6:30 p.m. — for the first-come, first-serve event, organizers engage in a bit of crowd control. Tickets are numbered, and everyone waits in the sanctuary, which is also decorated, until groups get sent down in waves, first of 50, then 25.

Spencer said the Tasting Bee tried for a few years to keep waiting diners entertained with live music, but found that hardly necessary since so many attend in groups or gather like a social event, with conversations started while waiting in line continuing once they get inside.

Penny Gafeller of West Branch said she has been attending since 1974 — the same year she got married.

“It’s a fantastic event,” she said. “You get to take recipes home and every year it’s something different.”

She gets in line early. This year, by 4:30 p.m.

“You’ve got to if you want to get in early,” Gafeller said.

If one gets full without getting through every dish, they are allowed to take the remaining tastes home, Spencer said.

Spencer keeps copies of each year’s recipe book in an album. The style of the recipe book changed over the years, from tall on construction paper to half-size on colored printer paper. There was a few years they sent the recipes out to get printed at shops, but she said they stopped that practice to keep more of the profits going to missions. Most of the artwork is done locally, too, she said.