On Monday, Notre Dame student government hosted Taste of South Bend. The event took place in Dahnke Ballroom from 6 to 8 p.m. and gave students the opportunity to try various foods from vendors in the South Bend area.
Taste of South Bend featured nine local restaurants, with a wide variety of food, desserts and beverages. The event was put on to showcase multiple cultural cuisines and dining options in the local community.
Ethan Chiang, the student government director of South Bend Engagement, expressed that to have relationships with the South Bend community is essential for the education and involvement of Notre Dame students in the local community.
“We've been able to form relationships with a lot of restaurants in the downtown area. And thus I reached out to them, and a lot of them were eager to participate in our event. A lot of them are coming back from previous years as our third year running event,” Chiang said.
Chiang indicated that communication between Notre Dame student government departments and the South Bend community are well developed and easy to maintain.
Former Notre Dame student body president Dawson Kiser said that the impetus of the event was to connect students with the greater South Bend area. He asserted that student government outreach initiatives towards South Bend have been successful in informing and engaging students with the local area.
“This is something we did last year as well, and it went somewhat well, and it was hosted by our Department of South Bend engagement. That department really exists to help bridge the gap between the South Bend community and students in order to help students feel comfortable and understand ways to enter into South Bend,” Kiser said.
By hosting Taste of South Bend, student government officials were able to offer South Bend residents the opportunity to promote their own businesses within the Notre Dame community.
“We view this event as being able to bring restaurants to campus and supporting those restaurants," Kiser said. "It's also supporting students and helping them, an added layer, in lowering the barrier with finding what you know students will like in the community. It's a pretty easy way to try a bunch of different cool restaurants, instead of having to go out and call an Uber or something like that."
When asked about the number of students in attendance at the event, and if there were similar numbers as the past, Chiang said that both the number of students and vendors were exactly what the initiative was seeking.
“Last year there were around 800 to 900 students. I think we've seen somewhat similar, not that much, but pretty much a similar turnout this year. So this event is always very popular every year and we expect pretty good street engagement,” Chiang said.
Christian Mayer, a freshman in Siegfried Hall who attended the event with friends, mentioned that it was a great opportunity for students to engage with their peers and to explore food that they may not have access to outside of South Bend.
“The event had the amount of student turnout that it should have been able to generate for the University,” Mayer said.
When asked about direct student outreach, Chiang said that one of the ways student government sought to increase student exposure to events was by promoting the event on multiple platforms.
“For the event, which you know, doing multiple different posts on social media is helpful. A lot of word of mouth. We also had advertisements up on the large screens in Duncan and LaFun, so when students are just around, they'll see it,” he said.
