UVA plans to bring back 'Taste of Taylor Street'
By Susan S. Stevens
For the first time since 1993, the Near West Side is planning a Taste of Taylor Street.
Friday through Sunday, Aug. 10 through 12, food, entertainment, and other attractions will line Taylor between Ashland Avenue and Ada Street. A bandstand will occupy a vacant lot on the north side of Taylor at Lytle Street.
The last Taste of Taylor was held in a University of Illinois at Chicago parking lot at Taylor and Morgan Streets. The University Village Association (UVA) has planned for the event’s return at the new location for two years.
“It will welcome back the neighborhood people who have not been here for a while,” said John Chandler, UVA president.
“We want this to be a distinctive destination for people,” Chandler went on, “not the generic corn dogs, etc.”
Eight restaurants will host booths along Taylor, David Harris, UVA treasurer, announced at a Jan. 31 meeting. “All are from the area.” Participating restaurants include Tuscany, where the meeting was held.
“There will be a voluntary contribution to enter the festival,” Harris said. Taste of Taylor Street is budgeted at $300,000, and “we hope to raise more than that,” he said. Organizers expect 25,000 to 30,000 people to attend over the three days.
JAM Productions, which operates 1,000 annual events including the Randolph Street and Old St. Patrick’s Church World’s Largest Block Party festivals, will run Taste of Taylor Street. The organizers chose JAM after consulting with several groups that run festivals.
Because the festival has had a 14-year hiatus and had lost money in the past, JAM required a $50,000 advance this year. Community members are putting up the money, Harris said.
“We are going to need a lot of volunteers” to make the event a success, he noted. Also at the meeting, Chandler was re-elected UVA president for 2007, Chris Alcott was re-elected vice-president, Harris was elected treasurer, and Susan Schiavone was chosen as secretary. Chandler urged board members and community residents to consider serving as officers next year, saying “no one wants to have a lock” on officers’ positions.
George R. Randazzo of the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame and two community residents, Joan Kistner and Robert Otter, were elected to the board. Also elected was Cliff Wilson of Cartridge World, the first board member from east of the Dan Ryan, where the UVA has expanded.
Two executives of the Holiday Inn at Canal and Harrison streets also attended the meeting. LaSalle Bank’s branch at Canal and Roosevelt Road was represented at a previous meeting.
