Eight days after the sudden death of Merchants Square culinary icon Tom Power, the greater Williamsburg community congregated at the Kimball Theatre to honor the legacy of the late Cheese Shop owner.
The theater held a Wednesday-night screening of Anthony Bourdain’s “Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent” to be shown in Power’s honor.
Ingrid Brown, board president of the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, said she was initially going just for the movie, but after Power’s death she came to the theater for a different reason.
“I came to honor Tom Power,” Brown said.
Three Merchants Square chefs including Power’s son, Tom Power, Jr., were slated to speak after the film and touch on Power’s legacy.
But before the showing, all three chefs spoke openly about Power’s role in helping to create a culinary scene on DoG Street.
Chef David Everett of the Blue Talon Bistro, Dog Street Pub, and the Trellis restaurant said he couldn’t remember the first time he met Power.
“Tom was a fixture in the town,” Everett said. “He was just always here. I don’t think I’d be in Merchants Square if it weren’t for him.”
Tom Power, Jr., said he was still feeling confusion and sadness about his father’s passing, but he wanted to speak on the panel still because of his passion for food — a passion he shared with his father.
“It’s a little bit of a mixed up time,” he said. “I’m not doing it out of an obligation to other people, but to kinda support the food culture that I’m a part of.”
Power’s daughter Mary Ellen Power Rogers said she appreciated the public outpouring of support, and was glad her father’s memory would live on in the food scene he helped create.
The movie, which chronicles the life of the “father of American cuisine,” Jeremiah Tower, was fitting to show in honor of Power, said Marianne Johnston, program manager at the Kimball Theatre.
“He was a true mentor of the community,” said Johnston. “His legacy has not stopped, and his family will continue on with it.”
WYDaily archives were used in this story.
