My favorite annual event is back! And this year it is sure to be a winner!! Just check out the site and look at the deep list of GE restaurants that are participating. I can almost taste the gyros and funnel cakes now!!

Ignore the html issues with the site.

Damn! Lonnie Brooks? That's a pretty good score! I'll be there, baby. Corn dogs, beer and Blues. That's a recipe for a good time.


FYI, Lonnie will be appearing with Koko Taylor at the Arboretum this summer.

The thing about the Taste that I really don't like is the venue - a parking lot.

As part of the Middlein87 plan for downtown redevelopment (in preparation), I think we need to raze the buildings directly across from the Civic center for a small park where we could hold something like the "Taste". I'm not talking the Einstein building, just that nasty, 70's looking wood-sided building, and the building just west of there. Where's Ladesic? You getting all this down?

And a double decker parking structure behind the civic Center. The current grades would be perfect for it, no?

Oh, this again. The annual GEBB event of letting our village know that their plans for festivals are lame.

Just for a fun comparison, this last weekend we were up in Long Grove for their Chocolate Festival. Mind you, that isn't really a city or a town. It might not even be a village. A community perhaps, but the definition is understandably vague when what is visible comprises of a block and a half in any direction. And very pretty blocks they are.

Anyway, this "community" had, long ago, decided that the right and proper step in future planning was to buy land for some huge (and I really mean huge) parking lots (plural) to handle the enormous amount of cars for their many annual festivals. And it still isn't enough as shuttle busses are rented to bring the throngs from a mile or more away from the remote lots. BTW, the fest was enjoyable, even if they didn't have Lonnie Brooks playing. Chocolate always draws me and the Mrs.

They are very successful at running events such as these (and parking is $5 each car x ~1 million cars). The community is laid out fairly well, it is charming, and darn near most of the buildings have paying tennants. Yes, there is turnover, but they always fill those spaces somehow. They also have plenty of tulips in bloom. Perhaps Glen Ellyn could plant more tulips. They're fairly cheap in quantity, but would require the merchants to pick the garbage out of the tulip beds every once in a while, and that's where we'd fail. Long Grove was impeccably clean, even for the crowds. Even after two previous days of large crowds. But this post is about future planning, not janitorial duties.

It just takes a little forward vision. Just a little. We seem to have next to none of that here. Crowded miniature parking lot. Bah. Meh. Stupid.

If there ever was a location for this sort of thing, it would be at or near COD, or Ackerman Park before they decided to mess with it. Maryknoll might not have ever been ideal, but would be far bigger than the tiny tiny parking lot. Shuttle busses can be rented. Parking can be remote. It is done all the time in Chicago and elswhere.

But dang, Lonnie Brooks! Cool beans!

I suppose you have to ask what the purpose of the Taste is. If it is to get people to come downtown, then having it at Ackerman, Maryknoll or COD wouldn't accomplish the goal. Lake Ellyn would even be a stretch. I suppose downtown business could already tell us the impact of all the Fourth of July festivities. If its to make money, well, that's a different proposition. I'm not sure what exactly the goal is, does anyone know?

But, in any event, the lot they have it in know just feels flat out crowded. I think they should at least block off Main between Duane and Hillside to have someplace for the crowds to spill on to and mill about.

I usually like funnel cakes, but the one I had there last year made me ill for hours.

Entertainment actually looks pretty good-Dain Bramage, Only Sons are a couple of my local favorites. I'll probably do what I did last year, enjoy a bad or two, then head to Firkin's for a couple of cold ones.

It most cases size does matter. However, Westchester is able to accomodate it's taste in the field between the old IHM and St. Joes. Its not a very big space at all. Further, they have no large parking lots, people just park on the streets. Our taste does not have to be extremely large, I think Lake Ellyn could handle something similar, at least for starter's to get some traffic near our downtown. Also, Sacred Heart in Lombard hosts it's German Fest in its parking lot. Talk about small, yet they manage to have rides for the kids, entertainment, food and more imprtantly good ale. Remember...its not the size of the ship, but rather the motion of the ocean!

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I think Lake Ellyn could handle something similar,

The snobs that live around there would freak out. Could you see Clam standing for Carnies walking his neighborhood at night?

quote:

Originally posted by bitterboy:
It most cases size does matter. However, Westchester is able to accomodate it's taste in the field between the old IHM and St. Joes. Its not a very big space at all. Further, they have no large parking lots, people just park on the streets. Our taste does not have to be extremely large, I think Lake Ellyn could handle something similar, at least for starter's to get some traffic near our downtown. Also, Sacred Heart in Lombard hosts it's German Fest in its parking lot. Talk about small, yet they manage to have rides for the kids, entertainment, food and more imprtantly good ale. Remember...its not the size of the ship, but rather the motion of the ocean!

Did you just mention Glen Ellyn and Westchester in the same sentence? Where do you think all the carnies live in the off season?????