Taste of Glen Ellyn staying put

The Taste of Glen Ellyn will remain at its usual venue after neighbors and business owners on Monday opposed relocating the May festival to a downtown commuter parking lot.

The Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce usually brings the Taste to another lot near the old Giesche Shoes and closes a stretch of Main Street near Hillside Avenue over the tail end of the four-day festival. The chamber began searching for a new site after developers eyed the prominent corner for a potential retail and apartment complex.

Though the real estate firm hasn't cemented those plans, the chamber still proposed an alternative location: a lot on the south side of the train tracks between Main Street and Forest Avenue.

"We have decided that we can't wait until the last minute to make this change," chamber President Tom Van Winkle said. "In regards to all our vendors and bands and that, whether we're in the lot we are or we move to this location, it really wouldn't matter, but we were trying to be proactive."

The spot selected by a chamber committee offers better exposure to Metra passengers and another "distinct advantage" - no street closures, said Mike Formento, the executive director of the nonprofit group. Retailers along Main Street, by contrast, have consistently complained about the Taste shutting down part of the downtown artery to traffic, Formento said.

"The intent here was to try and solve both problems at one time, by moving it and eliminating the closing of the street," Formento said.

While he said the idea holds some appeal, Village President Alex Demos said there are too many unknowns about the logistics of possible developments not only at Giesche but on the west side of the downtown, at the vacant McChesney & Miller grocery store.

If either or both projects move forward, the lot at Main and Forest may become "vital" during construction, said Demos, who also urged businesses and residents to continue to give input on a future home for the festival.

Trustee Peter Ladesic also wanted to wait - "for at least another year" - to revisit a move partly because the proposed developments are "still fairly fluid."

He also floated other possible Taste locations such as the fire station lot and along Glenwood Avenue.

A handful of business owners and residents spoke out against putting the Taste next to the tracks, where they said trains would drown out festival concerts.

"Having a business along the railroad tracks for almost 30 years, I don't understand how any band - my husband was a musician - how any band would want to play next to the train station," said Iryl Tortorella, one of the original organizers of the nearly 39-year-old festival. "That's a major concern."

Julie Dagnon, who lives in a nearby condo, said she was worried about late-night noise in the neighborhood.

"I'm just not sure that's the proper place from the resident point of view," she said.

But Trustee Mark Senak said the chamber's plan would address a "longtime" complaint by Main Street shops that the Taste disrupts their business.

"While I have no problem waiting, I think that we're ignoring some of the concerns of the Main Street businesses," he said.