If you feed them, they will eat.

Thursday afternoon, the only place to be in Morristown was Walters State Community College as the annual Girls Inc. of Hamblen County’s Taste of Morristown centered on campus.

Twenty vendors gave samples of their food and drink offerings to the crowd filing through Z Buda Gymnasium. Everything from biscuits to tiramisu was available. Side dishes were bountiful, including broccoli salad, rainbow pasta salad, fried jalapeno jack fries, loaded potato soup, garden salad with signature dressing, boneless chicken, steak kabobs and more.

Drinks were also aplenty including Bojangle’s sweet tea, Springtime Punch from the Walmart Deli, Coca-Cola products and bottles of water from NAPA Automotive.

The sweet tooth offerings were heavily represented with iced banana cake, cream pies, doughnuts and more. Snowy Ice of Lakeway also had its sweet ice treats.

Girls Inc. Executive Director Lise Bender praised the vendors for their outstanding offerings.

“It sure felt like it was the best Taste of Morristown ever. They really knocked out of the park,” she said. “They brought some of the most delicious food we’ve seen in years. It was a crazy amount of food. The restaurant partners come in with joy and fun. Everyone seemed to come together to have a really good time.

“Our judges were a lot of fun.”

A three-team panel of judges included Jennifer Buchanan from the Hamblen County Board of Education Food Services, TCAT Morristown President Suzanne Cox and Walters State Head Women’s Basketball Coach Jasmine Coleman.

“The judges are great every year, but this year they were tough,” Bender said.

Among awards given by the judges at the Taste, the Springtime Punch from Walmart Deli was voted tastiest beverage, the broccoli salad from Café Zest as tastiest appetizer and Longhorn Steakhouse’s loaded potato soup as tastiest main dish. Jet’s Pizza was voted tastiest pizza and Food City received tastiest dessert for its selection of cream pies.

Crowd favorite was Longhorn Steakhouse and the best booth décor was Food City with its jungle theme.

A popular item was the Pork Sliders from Big Jim’s Chopping Block at Family Fun Zone. The sandwiches ran out midway through the event. The Springtime Punch was also gone by 6 p.m.

This year’s event benefits Girls Inc.’s summer programming.

“Our summer program is most expensive out of our two programs we offer,” Bender said. “It is 10 hours a day every day for eight weeks. It’s the most hands-on program we’ve offered. Expenses are low considering what everyone who partners with us give. Restaurants give their food, time and staff. It allows us to raise a great deal of money toward the summer program.

Bender also credited Walters State as being great partners to host the Taste of Morristown.

“Part of the reason is for the Taste’s success is that Walters State is a great place to have this,” Bender said. “Walters State provides student volunteers, including senators pages and (members of the) girls basketball and volleyball teams.

“They’re very hospitable. Their staff has been gracious to us for years. Walters State is a real gift to the community,” Bender said. “It’s the community supporting this that makes the difference in the event.”

Girls Inc. is a member agency of the United Way of Hamblen County.