"The Community Center is always in need of benefactors," Fraser Townley told the Pembroke Citizen Journal this week. He was explaining why this year's Taste of Pembroke will benefit the Community Center, and that choice is a big part of why the returning event looks different from the one longtime residents remember.
On Saturday, October 10, from 1 to 5 p.m., the Taste returns to the Pembroke Community Center. Townley is vice president of the Pembroke Chamber of Commerce and is leading the effort. He says the revival started with a passing comment from Tracy Marino that it "would be great to have it again." The money raised this year goes to two places: the Community Center and New England Villages.
A March fundraiser for high school sports
The earlier Taste of Pembroke was a late-winter event. In 2013 it was billed as the 13th annual Taste, organized by the Pembroke High School Titans Sports Boosters and held at the high school on a Sunday afternoon in late March. In 2015 the boosters ran the 15th annual edition on Sunday, March 22, from noon to 3 p.m.
The 2015 tasting tables included Blakeman's, Fedeles Chocolates, Fork in the Road, Lucky Dawg, Mayflower Grill, Mother Anna's, the 99 Restaurant, Alumini Sports Cafe, Papa Gino's and Subway. The coverage we found doesn't say why the series stopped. It simply went quiet after that run of fifteen years.
Three things are different in the 2026 version. The Chamber is running it instead of a sports boosters club. It benefits community organizations instead of a team budget. And it moved from March to October.
How it ended up at the Community Center in October
The new Taste didn't start out at its current address or on its current date. According to the Citizen Journal, organizers first picked a date in June. They moved it to October 10 because May and June were already crowded with competing events.
The location changed too. The event was originally planned for New England Villages, a Pembroke agency that provides residential, employment and community supports to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Townley also serves on its development committee. Organizers decided that hosting a public food festival on that campus might be too disruptive for the people who live there, so the event moved to the Community Center.
That choice puts the Taste at 128 Center Street, an address that already carries a lot of Pembroke's public calendar. The Pembroke Farmers Market held its apple-themed "Fall on the Farm" season finale on the Town Green at the Community Center on Saturday, October 3, with the Mattakeesett Garden Club. The Veterans Day parade ends there too. So when the Taste fills the building next Saturday, it joins a stretch of Center Street that already hosts the town's fall gatherings.
What will be on the tables Saturday
The confirmed restaurant list is short so far. Two Washington Street restaurants are named in the Citizen Journal's announcement.
Disch's Route 53 Tavern is an American-style restaurant at 615 Washington Street. It opened on October 25, 2015, seven months after the last Taste of Pembroke we could document. This will be its first Taste, held two weeks before its eleventh anniversary.
Christina's is a locally owned restaurant in Pembroke Place, at 460 Washington Street where Routes 53 and 14 meet. It serves scratch-made Italian-American food.
The Chamber put out an open invitation for food businesses to sign up, so the final lineup may include more names than these two. Here's what's confirmed beyond the food:
- Beer and wine tasting for guests 21 and over, plus a cash bar
- A silent auction that includes a baseball signed by David Ortiz
- Face painting, a bouncy house and other activities for kids
- Music from local artists
- Big Y, Rockland Trust and Tiny and Sons as major sponsors
Buying ahead saves money. Advance tickets on the Taste of Pembroke Zeffy page cost $20 for adults and $6 for children, and there's a new $50 family ticket. At the door, prices go up to $30 for adults and $10 for children. For two adults and two kids at individual prices, that's $52 in advance versus $80 at the door.
The rest of October happens a few doors away
The next day, the Taste's neighbors on Center Street pick up where it leaves off. Here's how the calendar runs from Saturday on:
- Saturday, October 10, 1 to 5 p.m. The Taste of Pembroke at the Community Center.
- Sunday, October 11, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Vintage Market at the Pembroke Historical Society, 116 Center Street. Admission is free. Indoor vintage, antique and artisan vendors will be set up, and the museum and gift shop will be open.
- Saturday, October 17, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Friends' Book & Bake Sale at the Pembroke Public Library.
- Wednesday, October 21, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Craft Night: Book Pumpkins at the library.
- Wednesday, November 11. The Veterans Day Parade & Ceremony steps off at 300 Center Street and ends at the Community Center, where the program continues in the gym.
- November 22, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A bonus Pembroke Farmers Market at the Community Center, 128 Center Street.
The Taste and the Vintage Market fall on back-to-back days, a few doors apart on Center Street, so that weekend works as one outing. The Pembroke Farmers Market wrapped its regular season on October 3, but its November 22 date brings it back to the same building six weeks after the Taste.
The ponds keep a different calendar
Center Street sets its October schedule by event dates and ticket sales. Pembroke's ponds follow a schedule set by state wildlife rules, and boat owners should keep both in mind this fall.
The town is rebuilding three public boat ramps with Community Preservation Act funds: at Stetson Pond, at Furnace Pond, and at the Town Landing on Oldham Pond. In an August 24 interview, Town Manager Bill Chenard said the Stetson and Furnace projects were expected to go out to bid soon. He estimated six to eight weeks of construction and completion by early November.
Oldham Pond is harder. The Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program has set conditions to protect the Eastern Pond Mussel. Those conditions require a MassWildlife-approved biologist, a survey right before construction starts, and all work done between June 1 and October 1. After residents raised concerns at a Conservation Commission meeting, the design gained an extra eight-foot section for a larger launching platform.
The town had hoped for a new Oldham ramp before October 1. That date passed four days ago, and we haven't found a public update on whether the work happened. Before the rebuild, several residents reported trailer damage from a drop-off near the end of the existing ramp. Because of the mussel protections, temporary fixes like placing stone at the drop-off aren't allowed, and the town has considered posting a warning sign. The town plans to notify pond abutters and ramp users before any closure, with details posted on the town's website and possibly shared through local news outlets.
If you're heading to the Taste on Saturday, look for us near the silent auction table. Lindsay Conlon is cheering on the Chamber, the Community Center and New England Villages as the Taste comes back to town. If you'd like to talk about what your own Pembroke home is worth, we're glad to put together a valuation.
