On Saturday in Grant Park, Kenny Rogers will sing “Happy Birthday” to a 2,000-pound cheesecake decorated with marzipan cherries the size of baseballs. The country musician will ceremonially cut the cake, which will be handed out free to a horde already bloated with turkey legs, pizza, fried dough and ribs.
How can you not love Taste of Chicago?
Taste is Chicago, and by extension America, summed up in a great 10-day orgy of music, sunburns, overeating and sweaty plastic cups of beer.
And Kenny Rogers.
Drawn like flies to an overflowing Grant Park trash can are text messagers, tourists, North Siders, South Siders, West Siders, suburbanites, old-timers, yuppies, homeless, stroller-pushers, babies, Baby Boomers, Cub fans, Sox fans, gays, straights, blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians, rich, poor, and everyone in between.
Try to think of a place that draws such a cross-section of our metropolitan area. Maybe the driver’s license facility?
And is that even remotely fun? No.
But Taste is. Admit it — it is remotely fun.
Oh, the crowds, the crowds, you crow, they are a menace.
And sure, there is something about crowds that gets to a person when it’s 90 degrees out.
But there’s also something reassuring about Chicago enduring it (mostly) peacefully together — a Bugaboo mom sandwiched between a South Side cop and a recent immigrant, all waiting at Booth 44 for sweet, cool, already-dripping Rainbow Cones before pushing their way to Buckingham Fountain, where we are all waiting for a free piece of cake.
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LET’S TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU’LL FIND AT TASTE:
Meatless (not including fish, desserts): 21%
Desserts: 20%
Sandwiches (including burgers, hot dogs): 12%
Chicken items: 10%
Pizza: 8%
Latin American: 7%
Seafood: 7%
Indian: 4%
Polish, Greek, Persian (combined): 3%
Cajun: 3%
Italian: 3%
African: 3%
Soul food: 2%
(Note: Totals exceed 100 percent because of duplication, rounding)
By the numbers:
64 booths
1 1b. 60z.: Of BBQ turkey leg, about, for each served by Helen’s (booth 30).
24: Ovens making pizza on-site at Lou Malnati’s (booth 33).
145,000: Turkey legs
10: “On a stick” food items (shrimp on a stick, pickle on a stick, etc.).
2,000 lbs.: Of Eli’s birthday cheesecake will be sliced and served free at 1 p.m. Saturday near Buckingham Fountain
10 Days
3: Fireworks displays. (The biggie is July 3; there will be abbreviated shows on July 4 and 5.)
$0: Cost to leave your bicycle at the “Bike Valet” at Monroe and Lake Shore Drives.
11: Vendors new to Taste this year. (Though 4 are in the Daily Special pavilion, and thus only on-site for one day each.)
Taste of Chicago
When: Friday through July 8
Where: Grant Park, along Columbus Drive, Jackson Drive and surrounding streets; www.tasteofchicago.us
How much: Food tickets are sold in strips of 11 for $7
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Friday in On the Town: Sonic smackdown! Taste of Chicago vs. Milwaukee Summerfest.
The Stew’s going to Taste. Check out chicagotribune.com/stew daily for updates.
