A Taste of Ashland — the Ashland Gallery Association’s signature fundraising event that features a walking tour of Ashland galleries paired with local restaurants and regional wineries — has been canceled. The event had been scheduled for May 20-21.

Organizers blamed a lackluster response by restaurants — and the post-pandemic recovery.

The popular event started more than 30 years ago, but with too few vendors willing and able to commit to the two-day event this year, the board felt it had to cancel the event, said Anne DiSalvo, gallery association board president.

“We got only a fraction of the numbers we’ve gotten in the past,” she said.

Some restaurants that had participated in the past are no longer open, and many newer restaurants declined to participate.

“The feedback I’ve gotten from our organizers is that restaurants are struggling with a new post-pandemic paradigm. They have fewer workers, and they’re paying them higher wages trying to keep them,” said Bruce Bayard, treasurer of the association.

In the past, the restaurants have donated food to the fundraiser, and in return A Taste of Ashland provided publicity for the restaurants. Wine, cheese, chocolate and other vendors have had the opportunity to sell food, Bayard said. For next year’s festival, the board is considering changes to make it easier for restaurants to participate.

“We’re going to have a couple of meetings in the near future, with event planners and vendors that have been loyal to see how it might change, be more resilient next year and a better overall event,” he said.

For the gallery association, A Taste of Ashland is a dual loss — a fundraiser that would normally pad the nonprofit organization through the year and money already spent on the event. The board has already paid for publicity and advertising, Disalvo said, and they want to pay the organizers who have been working on A Taste of Ashland. 

The number of galleries in the association wavered slightly as a few shuttered during the pandemic, but recently others have opened, Bayard said. The number of artists in the association has expanded from 24 last year to 36 this year.

As to how the gallery association will support galleries and artists throughout the year without this fundraiser, DiSalvo said the organization will seek out grant funding, as it did when the pandemic previously shuttered A Taste of Ashland.

“We’ve refunded everybody who’s bought tickets. We’re really sorry we couldn’t do it. It’s a fun event,” she said.