Winners announced in 30th Carson City Taste of Downtown

UPDATE: Here are the winners for the 2025 Taste of Downtown held Saturday in Carson City. Congratulations to the following winners:

Best Taste – Sumi Sushi

Best Sweet Taste – Leon’ Raspados

Best Discovery – Crazy D’s, Thai Basil

Best Drink Taste – Shoe Tree Brewing Co.

Best Band – Jakota Wass

Cloudy weather broke for plenty of sunshine Saturday in Carson City, just in time for the 30th Taste of Downtown, bringing delicious food from local restaurants, live music and something of interest on every street corner.

Advocates to End Domestic Violence, a nonprofit in Carson City that offers emergency shelter and various resources for victims of domestic and sexual violence, hosts the annual Taste of Downtown. The popular local summer event turns downtown Carson City into a showcase of food, music and community support.

Taste of Downtown is AEDV’s largest fundraiser of the year, with proceeds going toward essential services for survivors of domestic violence in northern Nevada. The event began in 1995 as a small community gathering with seven participating restaurants and 500 guests. In the last 30 years it has grown to feature more than 30 restaurants and multiple live bands across downtown Carson City. Attendees were invited to vote for their favorite “tastes” throughout the event for the following categories: Taste, Sweet, Beverage, Discovery and Band.

We will update when the voting is complete.

Bands playing this year include the Jakota Wass Band, Life in the Fast Lane-Eagles Tribute Band, and DJ Melissa. Participating restaurants are: Vino’s Pizza, Bella Vita Bistro & Catering, Big Chicken, Carson Nugget, Casino Fandango, Cellar 8 Wine Bar & Press Cafe, Comma Coffee, Cook’d, Crazy D’s Chicken, Cucina Lupo, Dirty Dough, Eve’s Eatery, Flat Earth Pizza, Great Basin Brewing Carson, Jimmy G’s Cigar Bar, Juan’s Mexican Grill & Cantina, Kona Ice, La Tapatia Ice Cream Shop, Lady Griller Catering, Leon’ Raspados, Metal Chicken Kitchen, Red’s Old 395 Grill, Saltwater Tavern, Scoups Ice Cream & Soup Bar, Shoe Tree Brewing Co., So Juicy LLC, Starbucks, Sumi Sushi, Tee Jay’s Corner Cafe, Thai Basil, The Fox Brewpub, The Lady Tamales and Carson Cigar Company.

Also noteworthy was a booth established by the Carson City Firefighters Association, Carson City Employees Association, and Carson City Sheriff’s Deputies and Sergeant Associations, to raise money for Haylee Busby, a Carson City Dispatcher. All money raised through a silent auction, cookie, t-shirt and beer sales went to Busby, who is undergoing treatment for fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC), a rare and aggressive form of liver cancer that affects approximately 1 in 5 million people in the U.S. FLC typically strikes young individuals with no prior liver conditions.

Taste of Downtown organizers, Advocates to End Domestic Violence (AEDV) was founded in 1979 by citizens looking to address Carson City’s rising need for domestic violence services. The nonprofit has grown its capacity steadily in order to better break the cycle of abuse through its shelter, crisis intervention, and support and prevention programs.

The nonprofit has completed multiple projects in its 40 plus years, including the Classy Seconds Thrift Shop completed in 2017, its Intervention and Resource Center which opened in 2021, and its emergency shelter, designed to meet the increasing demand for services in the region. The nonprofit also operates a 24-hr crisis call line alongside its Sexual Assault Response Advocates and Victim Court Advocates programs which seek to help victims navigate next steps when reporting their various scenarios within the court system.

Additionally, AEDV provides a variety of educational resources, including teen dating violence prevention, financial literacy, emotional health and positive parenting classes, as well as individual counseling and support groups. 

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