BURGER WEEK WAS AMAZING!

Little did my wife, Cindy, and I realize during a 2017 weekend jaunt to Nashville that our lives would be so altered. We had a great time enjoying the usual tours — Ryman Theatre, Country Music Hall of Fame, Food Tours and Whiskey Tours. In our searches, we stumbled upon Nashville Burger Week.

Intrigued? I’d say. Hello, Fort Worth Burger Week.

Fort Worth Burger Week debuted summer 2019. We had started planning the previous December. We were thrilled at the success of Burger Week 2019, with 23 participating restaurants and a donation of a bit more than $1,000 for Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County.

The recently concluded Fort Worth Burger Week 2020 grew to 29 participating restaurants and raised over $5,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Fort Worth. We could never guess how many thousands of Fort Worthians participated, with almost 18,000 downloads of the Passport and more than 60,000 webpage views.

So, a few HUGE thank you(s) are on the menu:

THANK YOU RESTAURANTS

Fort Worth Burger Week is nothing without our Participating Restaurants. Despite all the restrictions and challenges that came with COVID-19, Burger Week 2020 had 29 restaurants step up and offer a $5 specialty burger. This community-wide event is nothing without participation of great restaurants.

THANK YOU SPONSORS

Fort Worth businesses step up to support a good cause, and this was the case for Burger Week 2020. It’s always a delight when sponsors return and charter sponsors who saw our vision last year and were eager to participate this year were Pinnacle Bank, Rahr & Sons Brewery, Fort Worth Business Press and our awesome Big Green Egg grand prize sponsor, FWGrills.com. And we were able to welcome five new sponsors for Fort Worth Burger Week 2020 — Trinity Metro, New Country 96.3 KSCS , Tanglewood Moms, BLK Vodka, and Acme Brick.

AND MOST OF ALL, THANK YOU FORT WORTH

When we made the tough decision in tandem with restaurants to produce Fort Worth Burger Week 2020, we were hesitant, but hopeful, that Fort Worth would come out and support our restaurants during this difficult time. Despite COVID restrictions and other limitations, Fort Worth came through in a way that we never could have imagined.

And you had fun doing it! We love that you tried new places, posted comments, shared with your friends…and won some fun prizes. Some of you need to get back on your exercise plan and others might need to visit a cardiologist. This has been a tough year for restaurants. Your support during Burger Week was heartfelt and heartwarming and we know you will continue to patronize them when you can.

Greg Heitzman

What’s Up Fort Worth