Jill Pettigrew is grand prizewinner of poster art contest for Taste of Buffalo presented by Tops

Tops Friendly Markets and the Taste of Buffalo announced Jill Pettigrew, an artist from Batavia, is the grand prizewinner of the 2021 Taste of Buffalo Tops poster art contest.

Pettigrew was the winner for artists in the 18-year-old-plus age group. Her artwork will be featured on the festival poster and in the event’s marketing materials. In addition, Pettigrew will receive a $1,000 prize.

Anna Valece Bauer, a 17-year-old Williamsville resident. was the winner in the 13-17-year-old age group and will be presented with $500.

The prizes are courtesy of Tops Friendly Markets and the Taste of Buffalo.

“As is always the case, we were incredibly impressed with the talent of Western New York’s many artists who sent in entries for our poster contest,” said Amber Hartman, 2021 Taste of Buffalo chair. “The Taste of Buffalo presented by Tops looks forward to sharing this year’s winning poster inside all of our participating restaurants and on the cover of our digital festival guide, which will be available on TasteofBuffalo.com.”

This year’s festival, taking place July 10-11, will be back as a live event and is planned to take place in Niagara Square and on a portion of Delaware Avenue. It will be modified to comply with any COVID-19 restrictions that may still be in place in July.

Tops Markets LLC is headquartered in Williamsville and operates 157 full-service supermarkets with five additional franchise stores and is the largest private, for-profit employer in Western New York. For more information, visit www.topsmarkets.com

The Taste of Buffalo presented by Tops is the nation's largest two-day food festival. The not-for-profit organization has more than 1,000 volunteers helping to put on the annual event. Approximately $541,000 has been raised at the festival for local charities, including three $1,000 scholarships awarded last year to local high school seniors pursuing a culinary or hospitality-related degree. For more information, visit www.tasteofbuffalo.com.

Anna Valece Bauer's winning design.