Once-mighty Taste of Chicago reduced to three days in September: What happened?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For the first time since the festival started 43 years ago, the Taste of Chicago being held in September this year.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, the crews were putting the finishing touches on the tents at the Taste Thursday night. It opens on Friday – and this year, it really is just a taste – a three-day event.
In years past, the Taste has been a massive food fest with millions in attendance each year – a huge highlight of the summer in Chicago. So what happened?
Some people think September is the perfect time.
"When they moved it to September, I thought, 'OK, this is going to work,'" said Alicia Lacy. "Travel is cheaper. A lot of people are back in school. It was easier for me to fly in during September to enjoy the taste."
That is why Lacy and her father are in town, to get the Taste experience for the first time.
"It's a great place to kind of get a taste of little bit of everything in Chicago," Lacy said.
This weekend at Grant Park, the city prepares to welcome the crowds.
"The event is more centralized this year," said Neil Heitz of the Taste of Chicago. "Buckingham Fountain is the center of action, and we have a lot of vendors out on Columbus, because that's what people are used to.
Yet people aren't used to the Taste being so late.
"It certainty isn't what it used to be," said Sherman Dilla Thomas, a self-taught Chicago historian. "It used to be the Chicago welcome to the summer."
Thomas runs Chicago tours highlighting the city's rich history and culture. He notes that the Taste was a much bigger deal in past years.
"A lot of people don't know Jane Byrne is actually the lady that really starts the taste in getting it up and going for us," Thomas said.
In 1980, Mayor Jane Byrne started the festival on North Michigan Avenue. It ran for only one day that year.
In 1981, the Taste moved to Grant Park, and over the decades, it grew to a nearly two-week food festival. Its initial weekend at the end of June used to coincide with the Chicago Pride Parade and often, the Crosstown Classic game between the Cubs and the White Sox. Its 10-day run carried on through the 4th of July.
Musical performances were held at the Petrillo Music Shell during the Taste –Stevie Wonder in 1988, the Neville Brothers and Koko Taylor in 1992, and Wilco and James Brown in 1996 – to name just a few.
Local TV stations – including CBS 2 – used to broadcast live from the Taste complete with mobile control rooms.
The Taste reached a record attendance of 3.68 million people in 1999.
"What is it now, sadly, is a shell of what it used to be," said Thomas.
In 2008, a gunfight broke out as the crowd left the show. A 20-year-old man was killed in the gunfight near Dearborn Street and what is now Ida B. Wells Drive – leading to safety concerns about the festival.
"It was following that that vendors started to get trepidations, and then the city was saying that security was starting to cost a little bit more money than they anticipated," Thomas said.
In 2010, the onetime climax of the Taste, the July 3 Fireworks Extravaganza with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, was eliminated in an effort to save money.
By 2012, the Taste had been scaled back to five days – though still at the same general time of year.
The Taste was called off in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, but resumed last year – in July as usual.
This time, the NASCAR Street Race downtown forced the Taste to September. Yet organizers insist while intimate, it will be safe.
"I think bringing back people who used to be part of the Taste and haven't been in while, come check it out again," Heitz said. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by experience we've created for you here at the Taste."
The Taste has 35 vendors this year, and 15 food trucks. There will also be musical performances from Lupita Infante, Masters of the Mic: Hip Hop 50, and Whitney.
The three-day event runs from noon to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday.