A 'hometown party' starts Thursday with Taste of Wheaton opening
Folks around Wheaton this weekend will be having a friendly debate.
Taste of Wheaton. Cream of Wheaton. Which is it?
On one side are the purists, the festival regulars who grew up in town and know their summer tradition by its one, true name: Cream of Wheaton.
Officially, the four-day party got a new name 10 years ago, when the Wheaton Park District and Wheaton Chamber of Commerce combined their respective festivals into one celebration called the Taste of Wheaton.
The schedule of events says something else entirely: The Taste opens for its four-day run with a "Throwback Thursday to the Cream of Wheaton."
That doesn't really settle it, does it?
No matter. Because here's the thing about this debate: Whichever camp you belong to, the Taste and the Cream factions will put aside their differences for four days of summer fun in Memorial Park.
"You're going to feel like you're really at a hometown party," said Kerry O'Brien, the chamber's executive director. "It has almost a backyard feel to it in the park. Everybody is really just having a great time to welcome in summer."
The Throwback Thursday theme may sound a bit clunky, but it's really an acknowledgment of the nostalgia around the Cream of Wheaton.
"Even though Cream of Wheaton as a festival by itself doesn't exist any more, people had a fondness for the name. It's just a nod to that," O'Brien said.
The chamber and the park district agreed last year to honor that history with an ode to the Cream on opening day, and the concept proved popular, O'Brien said.
So once again, the first 500 fest-goers will receive a commemorative gift - a Cream of Wheaton bottle opener, this time - when the festival kicks off at 4 p.m. Thursday with a carnival, beer garden, food vendors and live music.
"It just brings a smile to everybody's faces," O'Brien said. "The actual festival itself is much more elaborate than the Cream of Wheaton was, but it makes people smile."
The Memorial Park venue downtown also helps explains why festivalgoers have that happy, summer glow.
"There's really not a lot of other festivals that have the band shell and the trees and the park setting. ... It's just a pretty place to be," O'Brien said.
It's also the place to be this weekend because of the food. Of the 20 establishments serving crowds over the four-day run in the "Food Vendor Row" along Wheaton Avenue, eight are Wheaton businesses: Choun's Restaurant, Gino's East, Graham's Fine Chocolates & Ice Cream, Ivy, Kona Ice, Muldoon's Irish Pub, Nothing Bundt Cakes and Steamboat BBQ.
In the beer garden, organizers won't just be pouring domestic and craft suds. A refreshing rosé cider is a new offering this year, O'Brien said.
The chamber and park district also have expanded the entertainment. The Thursday and Friday night lineup will each have one more band performing at the festival than previous years. Six groups will take the stage Saturday, up by two.
A car show typically hosted by the Downtown Wheaton Association only on Friday night also will continue into Saturday on Hale Street.
And all that means festival attendees might be too busy this year for engaging in that Taste-or-Cream-of-Wheaton debate.
If you go
What: Taste of Wheaton
When: 4 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday; 4 to 11 p.m. Friday; 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Memorial Park, 208 W. Union Ave.
Info: <a href="https://wheatonparkdistrict.com/events/taste/">Wheatonparkdistrict.com/events/taste</a>