Taste of Roselle keeps growing with 30 vendors
The annual summer festival in Roselle isn't called the Taste of Roselle for nothing.
“This year we have almost 30 food vendors,” said Kathie Fitzpatrick, member of the all-volunteer Taste of Roselle Commission. That's five or 10 more than usual for the three-day festival opening Friday, Aug. 5, and running through Sunday, Aug. 7.
New food concessionaires include a purveyor of Asian cuisine such as pad thai and lo mein, a food truck featuring Cajun fare ranging from seafood gumbo to lobster po'boy sandwiches, and hot buttered corn served up by American Legion Post 1084.
Roselle Park District is planning to get a new tradition started this year with its first barbecue cook-off Sunday, with judging to begin at 3 p.m. For details or to enter, visit www.rparks.org.
Established food favorites making a comeback include Greek gyros, crabcakes, Chinese, Italian, Polish and Mexican dishes and American summer festival staples such as funnel cake, chicken wings and ice cream.
Because bingo is increasingly popular, the Roselle Chamber of Commerce game tent is moving from Prospect Street to a larger space on Park Street.
Festivalgoers also will find a beer tent manned by volunteers from the chamber and the Roselle Lions Club, a craft fair on Main Street west of Prospect Street, where more than 50 crafters will set up shop, community and business booths and a children's carnival.
Local bands will take the stage in the entertainment tent beginning at 6 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday and Sunday. All bands donate their time and talent to the festival, Fitzpatrick said.
Funds raised at Taste of Roselle are donated to local community improvement projects, Fitzpatrick said. Past projects have included new lights on Main Street, playground equipment and the installation of a veterans memorial, Fitzpatrick said.
She said the festival has its roots in an annual street party that first took over the village's downtown 35 years ago and eventually became known as Taste of Roselle.
Village President Gayle Smolinski said she remembers how the early days of the festival were led by the efforts of the Friends of the Library.
As a member of the Friends group, Smolinski said she became the Pocket Lady, wearing an outfit splotched with multiple pockets, each stuffed with toy prizes for the youngest festivalgoers. Even after she was elected to a village trustee post in 1986, she reprised her Pocket Lady role, she said, for several years.
She said the Taste of Roselle was modeled after the Taste of Chicago, which debuted in 1980.
“At that time we had a struggling downtown,” she said. The festival helped revitalize the area, she said, while the festival itself has grown.
Smolinski said she's been a regular Taste attendee for decades.
“It's like a reunion. You go there and see people you haven't seen in years. I'm looking forward to it,” she said. “It's kind of sad at the same time because it will be my last one as mayor.”
Smolinski, elected to the village's top post in 1993, plans to retire as mayor at the end of her current term.
But she still plans to return to the Taste each summer.
“The Taste is one of the most fun family events,” she said. “I will still be here for the Taste.”
35th annual Taste of Roselle
<b>Where:</b> Downtown Roselle, Main Street from Roselle Road to Howard Avenue
<b>When:</b> 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5-7
<b>Admission:</b> Free
<b>Info:</b> <a href="http://www.roselle.il.us">www.roselle.il.us</a>