{"id":12332,"date":"2010-10-29T11:47:48","date_gmt":"2010-10-29T15:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=12332"},"modified":"2010-10-30T11:16:22","modified_gmt":"2010-10-30T15:16:22","slug":"event-grand-opening-of-market-district-at-kingsdale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2010\/10\/event-grand-opening-of-market-district-at-kingsdale\/","title":{"rendered":"Event: Grand Opening of Market District at Kingsdale"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been working on this post for quite sometime and have finally come to the conclusion that it needs to be broken up into two parts.\u00a0 Otherwise it was way too long and I don’t want my dear readers to have to sift through a novel of a post.\u00a0 Therefore, my experience with the new Market District at Kingsdale<\/a> is going to be explained in two parts.\u00a0 The first will talk about the event I attended and the second will talk more in-depth about the store and what it has to offer our city of Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

I was contacted by Donna, who is head of online marketing at Giant Eagle, inviting me to attend the Grand Opening event of the new Market District.\u00a0 I had heard a few rumblings about this store coming to Ohio a little over the summer but really didn’t think much about it.\u00a0 When I was contacted about the grand opening, I was more than excited to get a chance to see the store firsthand on opening day and to be considered a VIP guest!<\/p>\n

The itinerary was jam packed and lasted the majority of the day.\u00a0 I was surprised by that and was wondering how that would work but they did keep us busy all day!<\/p>\n

I arrived at the store at 9am and was greeted right away by Donna.\u00a0 She offered to treat me to a drink while we waited for the other bloggers to arrive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I already had my fill of coffee that morning, but I did spy a hot spiced apple cider on the menu so I ordered that.\u00a0 It was so yummy!\u00a0 Piping hot and full of fall flavor.<\/p>\n

We headed upstairs to the new dining area and into a small conference room.\u00a0 I met up with the other bloggers that were in attendance.<\/p>\n

Lisa from Restaurant Widow<\/a><\/p>\n

Becke from Columbus Foodie<\/a><\/p>\n

Wendy from Celiacs in the House<\/a><\/p>\n

Each link is to their recap of the event.<\/p>\n

They had breakfast waiting for us upstairs but since I had a huge bowl of oats before leaving, I passed on breakfast.\u00a0 It looked amazing though, fresh fruit, smoked salmon, bagels, and donuts.\u00a0 Wendy asked if there were any Gluten-Free bagels and they went in search to find her one.\u00a0 Not only did they find some, but they heated them up in the pizza oven for her.<\/p>\n

They made sure to change gloves, use a different paddle, and place it on foil while it toasted.<\/p>\n

That’s hospitality!<\/p>\n

During breakfast, us bloggers chatted a bit about blogging and of course food because we all love food!<\/p>\n

Once breakfast passed, we were taken downstairs, through the produce section and over to the new demo kitchen.\u00a0 There a stage was set up for the press event about the grand opening.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had never been to a press event before so it was interesting to see those sitting in the audience and all the cameras in the background recording everything for news bits later in the day.\u00a0 After some of the big wigs from Giant Eagle spoke, Ted Strickland, the Governor gave a speech about the new store and the jobs it brought to Central Ohio.<\/p>\n

After Gov. Strickland, next up was one of Columbus’s biggest fans.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I bet you didn’t know that, did you? Yes, Adam Richman has been to Columbus many times and considers it one of his favorite cities.\u00a0 He gave a speech about the new store and the amazing amount of food and opportunities it is bringing with it.<\/p>\n

After Adam spoke there was the official ribbon cutting ceremony and then the media event was over.\u00a0 We were taken back upstairs to the conference area and got a chance to have a small chat with Mr. Richman before he was ushered off for his other duties of the day.\u00a0 He was very nice, very chatty, and extremely down to earth.\u00a0 I was impressed, honestly.<\/p>\n

Once Adam was off, we were given gift cards and told to have whatever we wanted for lunch.\u00a0 I wanted to attack the salad bar!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>They have two gigantic cold bars and I wanted to dig into some veggie goodness!<\/p>\n

I had a salad and also a smoothie from the smoothie\/juice bar.\u00a0 Not many grocery stores have a juice bar and I was extremely happy to see such an offering!\u00a0 I created my own juice with:<\/p>\n