Day 217: A Taste of Chicago's [food] action.

     On July 4, 1980, Michigan Avenue was closed off all day for a small start-up food festival.  The festival itself attracted 250,000 people and raked in $300,000.  And from that auspicious start, the Taste of Chicago was born.  That 1980 festival was actually a repurposing of an earlier music festival called ChicagoFest that had been established in 1978 by Michael Bilandic(when he wasn't busy making asinine comments about snow-removal efforts).  Over the next several years, the festival continued to grow, and the affair ended up attracting well over 3 million people during the 10-day duration of the festival each year. By 2006, a record 3.6 Million people showed up to enjoy the food and the fun.  However, one important legacy of ChicagoFest that has managed to hold on all these years at the taste has been the inclusion of musical performances.  Just this past year for instance, the Taste included such acts on the schedule as fun, Robin Thicke, and Neon Trees.  In years past, performers have included such acts as:

• Chaka Khan
• Jennifer Hudson
• Rob Thomas
• The Steve Miller Band,
• Salt N' Pepa
• Buddy Guy
• Ne-Yo
• John Mayer
• Glen Campbell
• Train
• LL Cool J
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Cheryl Crow
• Elvis Costello
• George Clinton
• Waylon Jennings
• Patti LaBelle
• Al Green
• Earth Wind & Fire
• and many, many more legendary acts over the years.

     It is clear from this lineup that the Taste of Chicago continues to embody the spirit of ChicagoFest in its penchant for good music acts while maintaining the world-class food quality that has made it unlike anything else on the planet.  Once again, another quintessentially Chicago activity.