The Taste of Galesburg started 40 years ago as a fundraiser behind the high school with eight or 10 restaurants on a brutally hot Saturday. Thursday, it returns to Simmons Street with a record 28 restaurants, 144 food and drink items, three live bands, and its biggest footprint ever.
The 40th Taste of Galesburg runs 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 16, in downtown Galesburg, and lead organizer Kraig Boynton and Landmark Café & Creperie owner Phil Dickinson previewed the milestone Tuesday on WGIL.
“I think it’s a huge compliment to Galesburg and all the restaurants involved,” Boynton said. “We have a very eclectic group of restaurants in our community and our citizens definitely support them.”
A record lineup and a bigger footprint
This year’s 28 restaurants roughly double last year’s participation, when construction shrank the event’s footprint. This year, the event stretches farther than ever.
“We’re on Simmons Street and we actually go from Seminary almost all the way down to Prairie now,” Boynton said.
Restaurants will line Simmons Street and the Kensington parking lot. The city parking lot near Kohl’s Diamond Gallery will be the children’s area, with bounce houses, a Discovery Depot activity, and face painting by the Galesburg Community Arts Center. The beer garden moves into the newly renovated parking lot.
For the first time, three bands will perform, thanks to longtime sponsor G&M Distributors: the Daniel & Pippi Music Experience in the Kensington lot, Neon Nova early in the beer garden, and The Rhinestoners as the evening’s featured band.
What’s on the menu
The 144 items range from festival favorites like birria fries to boundary-pushers from Fisk Bier & Wine, including an Exotic Beast bratwurst made with a bison and elk blend and a French rabbit sausage with truffle crostini. Other standouts include a bacon peanut butter slider and a fried strawberry cheesecake egg roll.
Dickinson said restaurants treat the event as familiarity marketing, and a chance to test something new. Landmark is bringing a spicy jerked chicken taco with charred pineapple salsa and the carne asada from its Tuesday grill nights.
“It’s a chance to put out something that either you think will be of interest and that you’re happy with,” Dickinson said.
Veteran tips
Dickinson’s advice for first-timers: bring cash, mark up the menu ahead of time, and use the booth numbers on the map.
“The biggest tip I have is remember what it was like back before COVID forced everybody indoors and we were all locked away and you’d see somebody you hadn’t seen in a year and you’d spend a half hour catching up and sharing what was going on in your life,” Dickinson said. “That’s to me the biggest part of this event is it’s like watching thousands of your neighbors catch up and I just love that.”
If you go
Admission is $5, with children 12 and under free. The event is cash only, with an ATM at Old National Bank just outside the gates. Tokens are $1 each, with most items costing one to six tokens. Entrances are at Seminary and Simmons, Prairie and Simmons, and the north side of Kellogg and Simmons. Pets are not allowed.
Raffle tickets are $5, with proceeds benefiting the United Way of West Central Illinois. Prizes include $1,000 cash, two $500 prizes, $250, and $500 in gift cards to local restaurants. The drawing is 7:15 p.m. on the main stage, and for the first time, winners do not need to be present to win.
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