The Chicago Tribune reports that city officials are considering reducing the amount of days for the annual Taste of Chicago festival. The future of music acts the annual summer food festival is already on the chopping block and with the potential of less days, the opportunity for country music to keep its one-day showcase during the festival continues to be unclear.
In the early part of 2011, then Mayor Richard M. Daley announced the consolidation of many niche music festivals and departments to help streamline the City’s budget. The former two-day Chicago Country Music Festival joined a handful of other festivals as they were repurposed into one-day components of the annual Taste fest.
Karen Vaughan, spokeswoman for the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, said the focus will stay on the food in 2012, according to the Tribune story.
That is so sad. I wonder if a free country music ONLY festival ( no food or anything) would be possible. Similar to Country Thunder but much smaller, shorter and free of charge just so that we don’t lose this benchmark of summer in Chicago.