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The sixth annual Harlan Chows Down event is set for Wednesday, April, 13, bringing attention to the choices for dining found throughout the county and giving participants the chance at a $250 prize.

Harlan City Tourism Director Brandon Pennington talked about the event in a recent telephone interview.

“We started Harlan Chows Down a few years ago, to bring some attention to the restaurants that may have gotten a little bit less business throughout the winter,” Pennington said.

Pennington said the event is designed to help motivate people to get back out and about as the weather warms up.

“As it starts to warm up, we really like to get people back to the restaurants and get them experiencing some good food, downtown Harlan as well as Harlan County,” Pennington said. “The event is throughout Harlan County.”

According to Pennington, many local restaurants participate in the all-day event. Most of the participating restaurants will be offering specials to participants specifically for Harlan Chows Down.

“They’ll offer deals to patrons who come to their restaurants or food trucks,” Pennington explained. “During the event, if you take pictures of your food and upload them to social media with the hashtag #harlanchowsdown, you will be entered into a drawing for a prize of $250.”

Pennington explained the $250 prize will be awarded the following day.

“We’ll draw for the $250 at noon on Thursday, April, 14,” Pennington said.

Pennington mentioned the prize drawing for the event usually draws hundreds of entries, but the total number of people who take part in the event is not known.

“We don’t keep track of how many people go to the restaurants,” Pennington siad. “What I can say is we have hundreds of submissions every year for the hashtag and food photos for people entering the contest. I would say we probably have to 200 to 300 posts per year on average.”

Pennington mentioned that is a small percentage of people who are taking part in the event, as many people will go out to the restaurants but will not enter the contest on social media.

Contest submissions must be in by the end of the day on April, 13.

A list of participating restaurants and specials may be found at the Visit Harlan County Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VisitHarlanCounty.

“This is one of our favorite events that we do at Harlan Tourism,” Pennington said. “We do it every year. It focuses on flavors and food specific to Harlan County. We want everyone to come out and enjoy a unique Harlan experience.”