WAPPINGERS FALLS—Fun, good food, and a worthy cause are all in the works for the first Sunday in May as Zion Episcopal Church presents “A Taste in Wappingers.”

The second annual event will be held Sunday, May 3 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the church, located on Satterlee Place in Wappingers Falls. Guests will be able to sample a variety of palate-pleasing items from 12 local restaurants: The Artist’s Palate; Mahoney’s Irish Pub & Restaurant; Margarita’s; Uno Chicago Grill; Ciccio Family Restaurant; Neko Sushi & Hibachi; Longobardi’s; Tony’s Gyro & Grill; Channingville Deli; Sukhothai; Il Continori; and Brothers Trattoria.

“We have a variety of interesting foods,” said “Taste” co-chair Marianna Martin. “It’s a fun thing.”

The event was held for the first time last year and dubbed A Taste of Wappingers because it featured only restaurants located in and around the village. This year, Martin and co-chair Judy Barba decided to expand the offerings to include restaurants in Poughkeepsie and Beacon as well and rename the event A Taste in Wappingers.

Tickets are $25 per person in advance and $30 at the door. For their admission price, guests will be given tickets that will allow them a few samples at each of the 12 restaurant booths in the church’s parish hall.

If the weather is favorable, guests will have a chance to enjoy their samples on Zion’s lawn or in a courtyard between the church and the hall.

Martin said the restaurants themselves will decide what they will serve.

“Whatever they want to do is fine with us,” she said, noting that she’s “very grateful that they’re willing to do this for us.”

All the restaurants are donating their time and food, with the proceeds from the event going toward a variety of programs at Zion.

In addition to A Taste in Wappingers, Zion will also have a presence at another popular community event, the Wappingers School District Festival of the Arts, which will be held in Mesier Park Saturday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Zion members will serve hamburgers, hot dogs, soda and other goodies in front of the church during the arts festival, as they have for several years. It’s another way to “cheer on what goes on in the village,” said Martin.

Being a part of the fabric of village life is something Zion has been doing for the past 175 years. With beginnings as a Sunday School class in 1820, the church was incorporated in 1834 and construction on the building began that same year. The church was completed in 1836 for a cost of $3,810, which was far more than the organizers of Zion had collected from subscribers who had pledged to fund the church and money had to be borrowed to pay the builders. Zion was consecrated by Bishop Onderdonk on May 6, 1836.

In 1875, Rev. George Andrews, Zion’s first rector, left the church after 41 years. He was replaced by Rev. Henry Yates Satterlee, who served from 1875 to 1882. It was during Satterlee’s tenure that the current parish house was built in 1881, fulfilling a dream of Satterlee’s that the church would have a building to house its many activities. The rectory, which also still stands today, was built in 1886. Thirteen years after leaving Zion, Satterlee was named the first bishop of Washington D.C., where he founded the National Cathedral. The street on which the church is located is named after Satterlee.

In the 127 years since Satterlee, Zion has had 14 rectors. They are The Reverends J. Nevett Steele; Prescott Evarts; William Port; Gerald Cunningham; Maxwell Rice; Oliver Carberry; Richard Harbour; J. Jack Sharkey; Alfred Whisler Jr.; Robert MacGill; Richard Donnelly; Michael Weber; Jerry Miller; and the present rector, Horace Choate.

Through the years, Zion has consistently been an integral and involved part of the community. The present-day church continues that tradition with a variety of activities and ministries, including the recent Easter egg hunt, the annual blessing of the animals, the busy food pantry and the First Friday dinners, which are an extension of the latter. As Martin puts it, the church has “been around doing good” for quite a while.

In addition to the May 3 A Taste in Wappingers, Zion is planning several other events to commemorate its 175th anniversary. There will be a parish picnic Sunday, September 13 and a weekend of special services in mid-November.

Tickets for A Taste in Wappingers can be obtained by calling 297-5137 or e-mailing atasteinwappingers@yahoo.com.