Local chefs team up with kids for a Flower Market fundraiser

They call it “rain insurance” — pre-market fundraising events held throughout the year to ensure that a rained-out Flower Market in May (and there have been many) won’t leave its beneficiaries high and dry.

The money raised by the Mother’s Day weekend festival in Rockford Park helps support dozens of Delaware programs for kids.

“We fund programs that offer Delaware’s children access to much-needed programs that provide educational enrichment, health and support services as well as scholarships to summer camp programs in the arts, sciences, sports and leadership,” said longtime Flower Market organizing volunteer Julie Baylis-Wozniak.

On March 2, three top Delaware chefs will compete with local kids in the Flower Market’s 2nd Annual Kid’s Cookoff at the University & Whist Club in Wilmington from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The kid competitors will be selected from the Flower Market’s beneficiary agencies, which include STRIVE, YWCA Delaware and Best Buddies Delaware, among many others.

The chefs are Michael Crispin of the University & Whist Club, Gretchen Sianni of De La Coeur Café et Pâtisserie and Michael Tumolo of the Concord Mall institution Cafe Riviera, the Pizzeria Pronto truck and Abbondanza Catering.

Each pro chef will team up with junior chefs to create dishes using “mystery basket” ingredients (think Chopped), which will be reviewed by a panel of judges, including Eileen Smith Dallabrida, Karen Miller and Steven
Horgan.

In addition to the cook-off itself, the evening will include the unveiling of  the 2018 Flower Market Poster Print by Kathy Ruck, a silent auction, food and a cash bar.

Tickets are $50 for one or $90 for a pair. Click here for tickets.