The Conshohocken Chapter of AMBUCS in Pennsylvania recently held the 15th annual Conshohocken Restaurant Rally (with a brief pause in 2020 for Covid protocols). This year, 200 attendees participated in this unique culinary tour of 20 local restaurants.
Conshohocken has a thriving restaurant community, and an even larger community spirit. Many restaurants not only participate, but prepare a signature dish or two to share, along with sharing their space, staff, and time with event participants. Special Olympic athletes from the community were invited to attend for free, and items donated by local businesses and individuals were raffled off to raise additional money.
This event, like many of the best events, came together over a meal between friends. Debbie and Vince Flocco discussed the idea of a fundraiser centered on area restaurants with fellow Ambuc Tom Wcislo, and the first Conshohocken Restaurant Rally was born.
This is not your average dining event or food tour. The event started at the Great American Pub, a local restaurant and one of the event’s largest supporters. All the ralliers met in the pub’s ballroom in the late afternoon to grab a goodie bag with a map and a list of participating restaurants before they headed out.
Attendees broke up into smaller groups and spread out, so as not to cause too much of a traffic jam in one restaurant at once. Two buses were waiting out front to take people to restaurants off the main drag on Fayette Street. Attendees enjoyed a few minutes of sampling delicious food at each place, before moving on to the next dining spot.
Each year, a participating restaurant in the rally is awarded the Conshohocken Cup, a prize voted on by ralliers and awarded to the restaurant with the best dish of the day. The winning restaurant this year was Viggiano’s. The runner up was Trattoria Totaro, and 3rd place went to Chiangmai.
The Conshohocken Chapter of AMBUCS brings together a dedicated group of volunteers to make this event happen, and the community support they receive is a testament to how deeply their work is felt. Cheers to 15 more years, and then some!
