Annual Summer Celebration

About the Event

Beacon Hill at Eastgate invites all members of the community – residents, families, team members, and neighbors to enjoy music and curated culinary delights during its Summer Celebration, an annual culinary showcase and appreciation event featuring hand-held bites prepared by our talented team of chefs.

The annual event, which has been a tradition for more than 50 years, will take place 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024 on the front lawn at Beacon Hill at Eastgate, 1919 Boston St. SE. Booths will line the parking lot, inviting foodies to enjoy cuisine from Beacon Hill at Eastgate’s kitchens and gardens that includes everything from global fusion and plant-based delights to bold flavors and gourmet comfort food.

Beacon Hill’s food truck, The Traveling Plate, will also be on-site serving dishes from its rotating menu as a part of several dining stations. The Traveling Plate serves dinner each Wednesday outside Beacon Hill, as well as at several community locations like Horrocks Market and Food Truck Fridays at First Merchants Bank.

“The Summer Celebration is one of our favorite ways of thanking our residents, their loved ones and the surrounding community for their support,” Beacon Hill at Eastgate Marketing Director Ashley Edwards said. “Our culinary team has prepared an incredible selection of dishes for this year’s event – and what better way to come together with our neighbors than through carefully curated dishes made using ingredients grown in our own backyard.”

Last year’s event welcomed over 800 attendees. The event is open to the community, and food and beverages are free. Limited on-site parking is available; we encourage community members living outside of Beacon Hill to walk, bike, or take advantage of street parking in the surrounding neighborhoods.

This year’s showcase will feature over a dozen handpicked dishes made from scratch by Beacon Hill’s award-winning chefs. Beacon Hill has a strong commitment to local ingredients, relying on its half-acre community garden to supply produce for its imaginative and appetizing meals that are acclaimed by guests and visitors alike. When the Beacon Hill chefs can’t produce ingredients themselves, they source from local purveyors, such as AP Baked Goods, Field and Fire, Louise Earl Butcher and Rowsters.

This year’s dishes will include a variety of flavors and use locally sourced ingredients. Diners can expect to see both home-cooked classics and new, inventive dishes. Menu items will include Slow-cooked Meats on the Smoker – Turkey, Brisket, 5-Spice Chicken Wings, Asian Pear Chopped Salad, Grilled Shrimp Skewers, Baked Baby Sweet Potatoes with Pecan Praline Crumble, Filipino Tocino, Jalapeno Cornbread Parfait, three varieties of Tostadas, desserts and much more.

History of the Event

Beacon Hill’s Summer Celebration started in the 1970s as the Strawberry Festival, a fundraising event organized by the Women’s Auxiliary of Michigan Christian Home, the name under which Beacon Hill at Eastgate was originally established. The Strawberry Festival raised thousands of dollars for the retirement community through the sale of homemade strawberry shortcake, sundaes and other treats. Since then, the Strawberry Festival has shifted to a culinary showcase paid for by Beacon Hill to thank its residents, their loved ones and the community for their support.

“What started as a fundraiser organized by a small group of volunteers has blossomed into a community-favorite tradition that has brought together new and old friends for evenings full of great food and entertainment,” Edwards said. “Decades later, the Summer Celebration upholds the original event’s mission of using exceptional, homemade food to build community and enrich the lives of our residents and neighbors.”