The Taste of Galesburg is back Sunday but will be running in a similar capacity to how it did last summer, in the midst of the COVID pandemic.
The Taste To Go will see participating restaurants offering special options at their places of business to encourage restaurant-goers to venture out and try something they haven’t had before.
The event is co-chaired by Craig Boynton and Deb Cratty. Boynton says that the decision was made to keep the Taste to go because it is hard right now for these restaurants to stay staffed to feed thousands at a downtown event on a single evening.
“When you have a lot of these local restaurants that are either family-run or have a limited staff, it’s hard to get enough people to staff your restaurant efficiently and also have a group of four to five people serving close to 5,000 people downtown.”
Cratty tells WGIL that the organization got many of Galesburg’s staples to keep supporting the event and even some new faces to join. As a reward, they allowed for a bigger menu this time around.
“We also have some great restaurants who are always supporting us. We gave them a bigger menu this year, just because they are struggling with product — to get product in the restaurant. So, we gave them some more options to offer.”
You’re asked to call each restaurant to figure out if you can stop by and order or if you need to order ahead of time. The event runs From Sunday to Thursday, July 18-22.
The event is normally held on Simmons Street in downtown Galesburg but had to alter their plans when the Coronavirus pandemic upended the world.
