Regina Crawford makes the trip from Gary, Indiana, to Grant Park every year for the Taste of Chicago.
Though this year’s edition of the Taste was smaller, and a couple of months late, Crawford still enjoyed the culinary offerings on hand. But she had one complaint.
“The lines are too long, very long,” Crawford said. “You go in one line to order, then you got to wait another 30 minutes for more. But other than that it’s very good.”
Others among the thousands of attendees Sunday afternoon complained about the long wait times, but they didn’t think the issue was enough to diminish their enjoyment of the traditional city festival, which featured 35 vendors, fewer than previous years.
In 2018, attendees had over 70 food vendors to choose from. In 2019, there were 41 food vendors and 17 food trucks over five days.
This year’s event is smaller in scale, but Taste organizers said that’s by design.
“Coming out of the pandemic, we really have to baby step. ... There are still challenges for the restaurants and the caterers and the culinary community at large,” Neal Heitz lead event producer for Taste of Chicago previously told the Sun-Times. “So we’re working back toward it, but this year’s Taste of Chicago isn’t the full-scale [event it was] in 2019.”
Taste typically takes place around the Fourth of July weekend, but this year, NASCAR took over Grant Park for its inaugural street race.
Returning this year to the city’s largest food festival are staples such as Connie’s Pizza, Churro Factory, Eli’s Cheesecake and Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs. There were also new events at the festival, like a karaoke stage and a tribute to the late DJ Casper, creator of the Cha Cha Slide.
Detroit resident Alexis Ponder, who was in town for a couple of days with family, thought the event still felt “pretty packed,” even though it was smaller.
“It’s really nice so far,” Ponder said. “The lines are f----- hectic, but they’re moving.”
Those lines have translated into dollars for businesses showcasing their food offerings at the festival, like Chicago staple Connie’s Pizza.
Mike Acton, general manager of the restaurant’s main location in Chinatown, was working the Taste booth this weekend. He said that on Saturday, when lines were even longer than Sunday’s, they moved 5,500 slices of pizza.
“Saturday felt like back in the day Taste of Chicago, long lines and it was just an overall good day,” Acton said, adding that he would still prefer it if the festival were still held in July. “Only because I feel like you get more tourists in the city, and the kids are not back in school so more people are on vacation so it tends to be busier in the summer-time I think.”
Acton also said he thinks the Bears game against the Packers at Soldier Field cut into Sunday’s crowd a bit, but he hopes that once the game is over fans will move to the festival.
Miguel Franco, co-owner of vegan Mexican restaurant Healthy Substance, said this year’s festival was better for them than last year’s. On Saturday they made about 4,000 tacos.
“We’ve had a lot of happy people walk away from us,” Franco said, adding that one benefit of the event being held in September means cooler weather. “The weather has been really comfortable, my staff definitely loves it because they aren’t sweating all crazy.”
Daniela Echiveste, who came to Taste with her boyfriend, Jacob, is a lifelong Chicago resident and no stranger to Taste. She also approved of the festival taking place in a cooler month.
“Honestly, if it was in the heat of July I don’t think I would have come, just because it’s like insane sun,” Echiveste said.
She added that she didn’t know what to expect from all of the changes to this year’s festival, but she came away with a good experience.
“I came in with little expectations, and I came out feeling a little bit better,” Echiveste said.
Contributing: Dorothy Hernandez
