Community Corner
Taste Of Chicago Returning To Grant Park, Bumped Back To September
The three-day food festival was forced to shift from July due to Grant Park being booked and because of two July downtown NASCAR races.
CHICAGO — A popular Chicago food festival that has long been part of the city’s regularly scheduled summer favorites will again take place this year — but not when local residents and visitors have become accustomed to partaking.
The Taste of Chicago, which has traditionally been held in July since its inaugural event in 1980, will take place in September, city events officials announced on Monday. The shift takes place because the festival, which features booths from many of the city’s top restaurants and purveyors of local delicacies, needed to be moved because of the NASCAR events that will take place in July.
Taste of Chicago will again be held in Grant Park after discussions that took place recently suggested that the three-day, food-centric festival be moved to Navy Pier to allow the event to take place in July.
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But on Monday, the Chicago Department Of Cultural Affairs and Special Events announced that the festival will take place from Friday, Sept. 8 through Sunday, Sept. 10.
“Moving this iconic event to the tail end of summer will prolong our vibrant festival season and spur additional tourism and economic activity downtown,” the city said in an announcement on Monday.
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The need to move Taste Of Chicago out of its normal timeslot became necessary when Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that NASCAR would host a pair of races through downtown Chicago over the July 4 holiday. Aldermen, such as 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Kelly, have blasted Lightfoot for bringing the two races to Chicago.
Opponents of the NASCAR races criticized a plan that will force a portion of Grant Park to be shut down for nearly six weeks while the racecourse is set up and then torn down after the two races.
Grant Park was also previously booked for the popular music festival Lollapalooza and the Suenos Music Festival.
The city also announced that Taste of Chicago will host three neighborhood preview events in Humboldt Park (June 24), Pullman Park (July 15), and Marquette Park (Aug. 5)
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