BETHEL – Crab cakes, pulled pork and blueberry crisp were a few of the items sampled by more than 300 hungry patrons Saturday at the annual Taste of Bethel at Telstar High School.

The sunny skies helped swell the crowd.

“This is a bigger crowd than last year,” said Kathy Thrall of The Inn at Rostay, a volunteer at the event. “We had a snowstorm last year. Crowd-wise, this is one of the best we’ve had.”

Other vendors agreed.

“It was a good crowd,” said David Nivus of Good Food Store in Bethel. “Good weather helped. I think it was bigger than last year. We made the same amount of food and sold out sooner.”

“We made 260 crab cakes and sold out by 1:15,” said Bill White of the Sudbury Inn. “I think we had a bigger crowd. And, the good weather definitely helped.”

Three of the nine vendors were serving crab cakes, and two others had seafood-based chowders for the hungry guests.

The Sudbury Inn’s crab cakes seemed to be a favorite of many.

“The Sudbury Inn’s crab cakes can’t be beat,” said Cathy Newell of Greenwood, a volunteer at the event.

“I think the crab cakes from the Sudbury Inn were succulent, provocative, and had a balanced flavor,” said Jonathan Knight of Worcester, Mass. He attended the event with several family members.

“I also enjoyed the lobster and seafood chowder with pumpkin seeds from the Victoria Inn and Restaurant. It was an ingenious combination of flavors with the seeds. It really finished the dish,” he said.

His brother-in-law had a different opinion.

“My favorite was the pulled pork” that was offered by Sunday River Brewing Co., said Wayne Eickel of Dallas, Texas.

“Anytime you can combine pork and beer you just can’t go wrong,” he added.

Another favorite was Thai green curry with mixed vegetables over rice.

“I haven’t tried many of the items yet,” said Joy Alexander of Bethel. “But the Thai green curry from the Good Food Store is absolutely delicious. And well worth the money. I just moved to town, and this is a great way to get to know the area restaurants.”

Samples of the various items were purchased with tickets costing 75 cents each.

According to Thrall, most of the 300-plus guests purchased an average of eight tickets apiece, although some returned for more.

“This is probably the 10th year for the event,” said Robin Zinchuk, executive director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce. “It’s very much a popular event for the community, and they look forward to it.”

Other sample items offered were barbecued chicken wings from Rebel Family Restaurant; blueberry crisp from S.S. Milton Restaurant; clam chowder from Bethel’s Best Restaurant; crab cakes with spicy citrus sauce from Bethel Inn and Country Club; and pecan stuffed mushrooms, crab cakes, meatballs in brandy peppercorn sauce, and prosciutto with fresh fig from L’Auberge Restaurant.

The Good Food Store was also offering Indian tomato curry with mixed vegetables over rice.

The event was sponsored by the U.S. Food Service.