Framingham Restaurant Rush Ends With Prizes For Top Diners

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Framingham Restaurant Rush promotion ended on Monday with an awards ceremony for the city's top diners, revealing that some participants dined out pretty much every day during the summer-long contest.

The rush began in mid-July and challenged local residents to dine at as many city restaurants as they could. Participants picked up passport books and received a sticker every time they spent at least $20 at any of the more then 40 eateries that participated — everywhere from Jack's Abby to Zheng Garden.

The promotion was spearheaded by local businessman Rick McKenna along with Downtown Framingham Inc., the Framingham Restaurant Council and the Framingham Economic Development Corp. The aim, McKenna said, was to give local restaurants a boost after more than a year under the heel of the coronavirus pandemic.

And the promotion appears to have been a major success. The top three contestants dined out a combined 137 times. If they only spent the minimum of $20 a piece, that's $2,740. But the grand spending total was likely many times higher, with McKenna estimating about $50,000 in spending, plus new customers for the 44 restaurants that participated.

At a prize ceremony Monday night at City Councilor John Stefanini's home, McKenna and other boosters gave out over 40 prizes ranging from a Florida trip to gift cards to local favorites like Pho Dakao and Framingham Station.

The top three winners were

• Nathaniel Joslin, 48 restaurants — $1,000 cash
• Lis Wheeler, 47 restaurants — MetroWest YMCA family membership (more than $1,000 value)
• Julie Swiderski, 42 restaurants — Week at Ft. Lauderdale timeshare

Other prizes included a $250 dining package for downtown Framingham restaurants, Boston Celtics tickets, a session at Paula Swift Photography and more.

Watch the full awards ceremony on Facebook.