Centerplate Wins Awards at 2010 Taste of Peoria

Centerplate Wins Awards at
2010 Taste of Peoria

August 13, 2010 (Peoria, IL) – Centerplate, the Peoria Civic Center’s exclusive in-house caterer, won two awards at the 2010 Taste of Peoria.

Centerplate won first place for Showmanship, which is awarded to the vendor with the best booth design and theme, for their “Centerplate’s Got Soul” soul food theme. The booth was designed to look like the front porch of a southern home, complete with slamming screen door. Centerplate’s Baked Chicken with Dressing and Greens with Ham Hocks also placed 3rd for Best Entrée.

Bill Woosley, GM of Centerplate, says, “We are proud to win the Showmanship Award because, in the past, it’s only been presented to two other establishments. It is a great reward for our dedicated staff’s hard work, as well as all of the love that they used to prepare the food.”

Centerplate chose the soul food theme as a nod to upcoming events at the Peoria Civic Center, including Tyler Perry’s “Madea’s Big Happy Family” on October 29, 2010, and “The Color Purple” Broadway Theater production on March 15-16, 2011. It also paid tribute to the Pettengill Home Site at the corner of Jefferson Ave. and Liberty St. where the Peoria Civic Center now stands. In 2005, the site was officially included in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program of the National Park Service. The site is now home to “Knockin’ on Freedom’s Door,” a commemorative sculpture created by Peoria sculptor, Preston Jackson, to celebrate the Pettengill Home Site.