Mid-County residents looking for something different — and for something tasty — at their local library might not have much further to look.

The Hebert Public Library is hosting its first “A Tasteful Evening” from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Dec. 9 in Port Neches. It is a food-tasting event where patrons can come in and browse cookbooks while sampling food and drinks that are being offered by local businesses. Admission is free, and the event is described as family friendly.

“As a new employee, I wanted to do something for the community,” Chelsea Moore, library worker and primary organizer of the event, said. “I wanted to introduce the library to people and put it at the forefront of people’s minds.”

Moore helped revive the idea for the holidays.

“Six years ago, the library director at the time did something similar, and we decided to rework it. We thought food tasting was a good idea.”

Moore took the initiative and reached out to the various restaurants in the Mid-County area.

“I wrote a letter and mailed it to different restaurants and followed it up with a phone call to each. And then it kind of went from there.”

Moore said she created a rapport with some of the employees from the restaurants.

“We did get pretty lucky,” Moore said when speaking of the restaurants attending.

And while the restaurants at the event will be local, the types of food being offered will be more diverse.

“We took a ‘Hey, that sounds good!’ approach,” Moore said.

“I had some help from another co-worker when deciding who to ask to participate,” Moore said. “We didn’t have anything specific in mind, but we did want to get as many Port Neches restaurants as possible because we’re the Port Neches Library.”

However, Moore was quick to add that they reached out to as many people as they could in Mid-County because “We’re all one big community.”

As for the goal of such an event, Moore seemed to adhere to a community-minded approach just as much as to a food-tasting approach.

“The whole goal of why we’re having it during the holidays is to give the community the opportunity to come to the library and see what types of programs we have to offer,” Moore said.

“It’s free and it’s family-friendly. We want people to come out and to enjoy tasting local food. We just want to bring the community together.”

Moore said that it could also be a good opportunity to de-stress a little.

“I’ve had some people say they’re coming for a date night; others say they’re bringing their children. We want people to come and have a good time.”

Moore asked for some leniency, however, for her and the event.

“This is our first go-around and we’re going to try to make it go without a hitch,” Moore said. “We don’t want people to worry if we run out of food for example; we want people to have a good time.”