The long-running Taste of Chicago food festival will move back to July in 2026 after being booted from the mid-summer Downtown lineup for several years in favor of NASCAR. That\u2019s according to the head of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Clin\u00e9e Hedspeth, who confirmed the news at a mid-year budget hearing at City Hall Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going back to July. We are still working on if it should go back to the Fourth of July time period,\u201d she told a group of alderpeople who were pleased with the news. \u201cOverwhelmingly, I think people, the citizens, want it back in July. And we\u2019re excited to be able to do that in 2026.\u201d In 2023, the Taste was pushed to September, to the dismay of many Chicagoans. The move was bad for business, said Downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd).<\/p>\n
A person holds a stuffed potato from ArePA George at Taste of Chicago in 2024.
\nAnthony Vazquez\/Sun-Times
\n\u201cAfter school starts again it\u2019s difficult to have a major downtown festival in Grant Park, so I think it makes sense to move it to July again,\u201d Hopkins said.<\/p>\n
Returning the Taste of Chicago to July would contribute to an estimated 50% increase in the department\u2019s revenue next year, Hedspeth said. But it\u2019s unclear if the festival\u2019s return to July will be permanent. NASCAR will be on a Chicago hiatus for 2026, with a race held instead at the Chicago Speedway in Joliet. But NASCAR officials have indicated they want to return to the city in 2027.<\/p>\n
Hedspeth said whether the Taste will take place in July beyond next year is something \u201cyour body will have to talk about, the Mayor\u2019s office will have to talk about.\u201d Hopkins said he and other Council members have told NASCAR that if the race does return, it should look at alternatives to the prime July 4th weekend. \u201cNASCAR definitely wants to come back to Downtown, but they\u2019ve already accepted that it will not be over July 4th \u2014 so that leaves the question of when,\u201d Hopkins said. \u201cAnd they can\u2019t get too close to their big season ending race in Daytona, which is at the end of August.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hedspeth said her department is still determining whether it will have the budget to hold a series of neighborhood-focused spinoffs of the downtown Taste festival in 2026, as the city has done in recent years. Ald. David Moore (17th) said the neighborhood Taste of Marquette Park was a success this year, but the larger downtown Taste \u201ccame and went,\u201d and a lot of residents didn\u2019t \u201ceven know it was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Taste took place this year in Grant Park from Sept. 5-7. Hedspeth said the festival brought in $2.8 million in food and drink sales \u2014 a 12% increase from last year. That\u2019s in part because the city is now charging a 10% commission on food vendors, she said. \u201cIt seems to be trending up. I think moving back to July will be even more beneficial,\u201d Hedspeth said.<\/p>\n
Q: When will the Taste of Chicago move back to July?
\nA: The Taste of Chicago will move back to July in 2026.
\nQ: Why was the Taste of Chicago moved from July?
\nA: The Taste of Chicago was moved from July to make way for the NASCAR race.
\nQ: Will the Taste of Chicago return to the Fourth of July time period?
\nA: It is still being determined whether the Taste of Chicago will return to the Fourth of July time period.
\nQ: How much revenue did the Taste of Chicago bring in this year?
\nA: The Taste of Chicago brought in $2.8 million in food and drink sales this year.
\nQ: Will the neighborhood-focused spinoffs of the downtown Taste festival continue in 2026?
\nA: It is still being determined whether the neighborhood-focused spinoffs of the downtown Taste festival will continue in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the Taste of Chicago The long-running Taste of Chicago food festival will move back to July in 2026 after being booted from the mid-summer Downtown lineup for several years in favor of NASCAR. That\u2019s according to the head of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Clin\u00e9e Hedspeth, who confirmed the news […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dining"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/99b958f\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6122x3495+0+294\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ffa%2Ffa%2Fc58bad0a40a9ac85a1f54b3ad063%2Ftasteopens-090724-20.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28209,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28207\/revisions\/28209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}