Arnie Morton, creator of the Taste, decided to line up Chicago restaurants to participate and persuaded then-Chicago mayor
Jane Byrne and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs
Lois Weisberg to block off
Michigan Avenue for the first Taste of Chicago on July 4, 1980. Although organizers expected 100,000 people, a crowd of over 250,000 showed up, with food and soda sales grossing $300,000 at the festival's inception. The next year, the Taste of Chicago was moved to Grant Park and grew in size and scope, becoming a 10-day event with more food vendors and musical performers; it also became the world's largest food festival.
ChicagoFest, started by mayor
Michael Bilandic, was the precursor to the Taste of Chicago. After Bilandic's tenure in office, newly elected Mayor
Jane Byrne attempted to end the festival as well as many other programs associated with the former mayor. Many Chicagoans disapproved of Mayor Byrne's attempt to stop the festivities (although attendance at ChicagoFest had begun to wane). She and her successor, Mayor
Harold Washington, dedicated more time and energy to promoting the Taste, slowly phasing ChicagoFest out in the process. Mayor Washington finally put an end to ChicagoFest when in 1983 it was moved from
Navy Pier to
Soldier Field and attendance continued to wane. The popularity of the Taste of Chicago has prompted other cities to spawn numerous offshoots and equivalents throughout North America such as the Taste of
Champaign,
CityFest in
Detroit, the
Taste of the Danforth in
Toronto, the Taste of
Kalamazoo, Taste of Addison, Taste of
Denver, Taste in
Dallas, Taste of
Madison, Taste of
Austin, the Taste of Peoria in
Peoria, Illinois, and the Bite in
Portland to name a few. The first "taste of" festival was
Taste of Cincinnati in 1979. In 2005, the Taste attracted about 3.9 million people with over 70
food vendors. Foods at the event include
Chicago-style pizza,
Chicago hot dogs,
barbecued ribs,
Italian Beef,
Maxwell Street Polish Sausage,
Eli's Cheesecake, and a variety of ethnic and regional foods. A total of 3.6 million people visited the 2006 Taste of Chicago. Attendance for the previous record 10-day event, in 2004, was 3.59 million, with $12.33 million in revenue. These lackluster statistics prompted several changes. The mayor transferred power over the event from the Chicago Park District to the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the event was shortened to 5 days. In 2012, the Taste of Chicago ran from July 11 to July 15 and had 36 participating restaurants. In 2013, the Taste of Chicago turned a profit for the first time in six years with sales totaling $272,000. On Saturday, July 12, 2014, the Taste of Chicago closed because of severe weather—the first time the festival was canceled for the entire day because of "excessive rainfall and flooding on the festival grounds". In June 2020, the event was one of several Chicago events officially cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic; it was replaced by "Taste of Chicago To-Go" programming that included an online directory of vendors, video cooking demonstrations and performances, a food truck procession, and an expansion of the existing Community Eats program that brings free meals to first responders. ==2007 salmonella outbreak==