The 2023 Barrett Havran Memorial Big Taste of Fort Worth is back Sunday, April 30, at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel in Fort Worth. The event benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Greater Tarrant County and honors one of the organization’s most beloved participants.
This is also the largest annual fundraising event for Tarrant County BBBS. VIP wine tasting begins at 5 p.m. with main tasting starting at 6.
Limited tickets are available. Attire is cowboy chic.
The event celebrates over 40 years of fine wine and culinary excellence and includes sampling the gourmet cuisine of Tarrant County’s finest restaurants, and sips from the area’s best wineries and distilleries.
In addition, a panel of celebrity judges will crown the “Best of Taste” awards, and an extensive silent auction and live entertainment will round out the evening.
Title sponsors include Gilchrist Automotive and The Dorothea Leonhardt Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Andrea “Tudy” Harkins, Donor Advisor.
Celebrity food/wine/spirits judges include such names as Deborah Ferguson, NBC 5 Today co-anchor; Steve Lamb, WBAP sports director/announcer; Jon Bonnell, chef/restaurateur; and more.
The event’s namesake, Barrett Havran, died in 2011 at age 31 and is remembered as a friend to all who knew him. A gifted scholar/athlete and community servant with a strong legal mind, Havran was greatly respected and has been described as a true renaissance man who was humble and kind with exceptional character.
Havran graduated in 1998 from Fort Worth Country Day School, where he was a track star and now has a stadium named after him. He earned degrees from The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin after receiving a track scholarship to UT, and Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas.
Havran was active on the Tarrant board of Big Brothers Big Sisters and was a devoted Big Brother. Among his many honors was being posthumously selected to the Fort Worth Business Press 40 Under 40 Class of 2011.
During his senior year at FWCD, Havran set multiple school sports records. At UT he was the ninth-ranked decathlete in school history and ranked 18th nationally before graduating in 2002.
About Big Brothers Big Sisters: Since 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is incredible potential. Hence, their philosophy, “defending potential.”
As the nation’s largest donor-and-volunteer supported mentoring network, BBBS makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers, known affectionately as “Bigs,” and children, or “Littles,” ages 5 through young adulthood in communities across the country.
BBBS notes that the average annual cost of support for a new match is $1,000. The goal for this year’s Big Taste is to raise enough funds to support 200 new matches.
To purchase tickets or donate, visit https://bigtastefw.funraise.org/