The Taste of Cambridge brings more than 100 city food and drink sellers to a garden near Central Square. (Photos: Taste of Cambridge)

The annual Taste of Cambridge, which brings together tastings of goods from more than 100 city food and drink sellers, returns from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday to University Park at the Landsdowne Quad off Sidney Street near Central Square.

Tickets are $50 in advance or $60 at the door and include four glasses of beer or wine from beer gardens; kids’ Tasting Tickets are $15 for children 6 to 12, and kids under 6 get in free; and there are VIP tickets for $75 that gets “fast pass” entry through an area with a Bloody Mary bar, raw bar, specialty cocktails, craft punches and miniature golf. The VIP area closes an hour after the main event.

The event also features The Dirty Water Brass Band, celebrity DJs and dancing.

This 12th Taste of Cambridge was scheduled originally for Tuesday, but was moved to its Thursday rain date after a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms early in the day that could soak fields before giving way to a single-digit chance of storms during the event itself. Last year the event was bounced from June 13 to June 18 and then to July 11 by bad weather.

This event features items from restaurants, local specialty butcher, cheese, honey, wine, beer, specialty drinks and coffee purveyors in a landscaped courtyard with outdoor seating, beer and wine gardens, lawn games, grills, a clam boil, craft beer, The Dirty Water Brass Band, celebrity DJs and dancing, said Robin Lapidus, executive director of the Central Square Business Association.

“Our event is one of the great food sampling experiences in the region,” Lapidus said in a press release. “Each year foodies descend upon the Taste of Cambridge to sample the delicious, creative, healthy and award-winning cuisine that enriches the culture of our city and results in Cambridge being one of the best recognized restaurant destinations around.”

The restaurants and purveyors include:

1369 Coffee House; Abigail’s; Alden & Harlow; ArtBar; Asgard Irish Pub & Restaurant; Bambara Restaurant; Belly Wine Bar; Benny’s Crepe Café Food Truck; The Blue Room; Bondir; Bytes Café @University Park; Café Barada; the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts; Cambridge Wine & Spirits; Catalyst Restaurant; Central Bottle Wine + Provisions; Craigie on Main; Dosa Factory; Dwelltime; East Coast Grill and Raw Bar; Flour Bakery & Cafe; Formaggio Kitchen, Inc.; Four Burgers; Fuji at Kendall; Garden at the Cellar; Grafton Street; H Mart; Hit Wicket Restaurant; Hong Kong Restaurant; Iggy’s Bread of the World; J.P. Licks; John Harvard’s Brew House; Jose’s Mexican Restaurant; Koreana; Life Alive Cambridge; Lord Hobo; The Middle East Restaurant; Middlesex Lounge; Moksa; Naked Juice; Nubar; Olé Mexican Grill; Park; Patty Chen’s Dumpling Room; P.F. Chang’s China Bistro; Prospect Lounge; Puritan & Company; Restaurant Dante; Russell House Tavern; Sandrine’s Bistro; The Sinclair; Sidney’s Grille & Lounge; Star Market; Summer Shack Cambridge; Tavern in the Square; Temple Bar; Veggie Galaxy; Wagamama; Westbridge; West Side Lounge; and Zephyr on the Charles.

The price of the tickets support five local nonprofit alcohol and drug prevention and treatment programs: Cambridge Camping, Food for Free, the Institute for Health and Recovery, The Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House and Transition House.

The event is sponsored by Forest City Enterprises, Reyka, Hendricks, Harpoon Brewery, Amstel Light, Amstel Radler, Strongbow Cider, Mionetto, St. Elder, Naked Grape, Rex Goliath, the Cambridge Office for Tourism, Boston Magazine, Cambridge Trust Bank, First Aid Recovery, Bright Horizons, MMMMaven, Naked Juice, Windows by Anderson, MIT, The Middle East & Zuzu’s, Prospect Lounge, CLAB, Workbar, Cater2me, the City of Cambridge and the Central Square Business Association.

This post took significant amounts of material from a press release.