Taste of Chicago features fireworks and food
A traditional Chicago Dog: all beef Hot Dog, yellow mustard, relish, onions, tomato wedges, pickle spear or slice, peppers and a dash of celery salt on a steamed poppyseed bun.
Taste of Chicago 2009 promises to be as big as ever, which is pretty big. In fact, Taste of Chicago is the largest outdoor food festival in the world.
It started out smaller in 1980, when the Taste of Chicago was held for the first time. At first, the festival was on the Fourth of July, but Taste of Chicago 2009 is a 10-day extravaganza that is sure to bring tons of traffic, tourists and, of course, money to Chicago.
Inexpensive cuisine
Taste of Chicago 2009 isn’t all about money. In fact, the food is pretty cheap. The hundreds of booths at Chicago’s famed Grant Park serve up all kinds of cuisine in exchange for tickets. Don’t dream of going up to a booth at Taste of Chicago 2009 and saying “Take my cash now!” Food vendors only exchange food for tickets.
Tickets cost $8 a dozen, making each ticket only about 66 cents. Most of the booths offer “taste” options for 2 or 3 tickets. There are so many booths, you could hit only a tiny percentage of them and chose the “taste” option, which adds up to between $1 and $2, and be stuffed.Think of it this way, if you buy your dozen tickets for $8, you will be able to sample food from four places, possibly six. Regular-size portions cost about 10 tickets ($6.60) and most booths serve half-size portions for six or seven tickets.
Big names and big bangs
Besides the food, Taste of Chicago 2009 will offer up some pretty healthy portions of entertainment. Following tradition, Taste of Chicago 2009 will feature fireworks, though they’ll be on the night of July 3 rather than on the Fourth of July.
Also, Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy will put on a concert on the Fourth of July, and festival goers can watch for free.
Tourist dollars fuel economy
Besides the money the food will generate at the festival, Taste of Chicago 2009 will bring in plenty of revenue for various businesses in Chicago. It’s projected that 3 million people will attend the festival and the event will pull in more than $12 million in revenue.
Of course, many festival goers will be Chicago residents themselves. However, the famed festival will also attract plenty of out-of-towners, bringing money into the hotel and transportation industries there. Naturally there will also be plenty of items of clothing and other souvenir gear to commemorate attending the event.
The Taste spreads
As Taste of Chicago has grown in popularity, other cities — in the U.S. and abroad — have started to follow suit. Some include Tastefest in Detroit, Bite in Portland, Taste of Danforth in Toronto, Taste of Kalamazoo, Taste of Addison, Taste of Lincolnshire, Taste in Dallas, Taste of Madison in Austin and Taste of Peoria.
Taste of Chicago 2009 is expected to feature all of the traditional, celebrated Chicago fare famously served at previous festivals: Chicago-style pizza, Chicago hot dogs, barbecued ribs, Italian Beef, Maxwell Street Polish Sausage and Eli’s Cheesecake, to name a few.
