Taste of Chicago 2012 Shortened to Five Days
By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 28, 2011 7:00PM
If the City was looking to bring Taste of Chicago back to profitability, cutting the number of days in the festival in half and pushing it back to mid-July is one way to do it, and one way we never thought they'd consider, to be honest. But that looks like what's happening.
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events made the announcement this morning that Taste would be shortened to a five-day festival set to run July 11-15, 2012. The news also comes a couple of weeks after the City announced that management for the festival would be put out to bid.
Cultural Affairs and Special Events spokeswoman Cindy Gatziolis said cost was the main factor in the decision. “We’re looking at where we can present a fun event that everyone can enjoy on our Chicago lake front.”
A statement from the department also indicated that the focus for next year's taste would once again be on the food, not the entertainment. A special emphasis would be placed on highlighting Chicago's burgeoning restaurant and cooking scene, which gets richer and deeper seemingly by the day. As for entertainment at the festival, Gatziolis said Taste would feature “great local music and national performing acts."
Guess they are emphasizing the food.
Last year's Taste was the lowest attended version of the event in a quarter century. Participating restaurants also made much less from the festival than in previous years.