What food vendors will be at the Taste of Galesburg? Popular event returns in-person

Samuel Lisec, Galesburg Register-Mail
·3 min read
An overview of the 33rd annual Taste of Galesburg on Simmons Street on July 26, 2018.
An overview of the 33rd annual Taste of Galesburg on Simmons Street on July 26, 2018.

GALESBURG — Get ready for a showcase of Galesburg’s finest food as the city’s 36th annual Taste of Galesburg is set to take place in-person in Downtown Galesburg on Thursday.

Taste of Galesburg will run from 4-10:30 p.m. on East Simmons Street and feature menu items from at least 18 different local restaurants, free children’s activities, a raffle drawing, a beer garden and live music from three different bands.

Entrance through the gates — located at Seminary St. and on the north and south side of Kellogg St. — will cost $5 for adults but children under 12-years-of age get in for free. Food tokens cost $1 each, with the price of menu items varying by each restaurant.

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Kraig Boynton, one of the event’s co-coordinators, said this year’s Taste of Galesburg will look “very similar” to the previous Tastes before the pandemic, during which individual restaurants provided to-go items instead of meeting outside.

Here is the list of the 18 Galesburg restaurants that will be participating:

  • 156 East

  • Big Catz BBQ

  • Cherry Street Brewing Company

  • Craft on Seminary St

  • Henn House BBQ

  • Innkeepers Coffee

  • Iron Spike

  • Jimmy's Pizza

  • La Cantinita

  • Landmark Cafe & Creperie

  • Lenny's Grill & Subs

  • Orange Cup Java Station

  • Packinghouse Restaurant

  • Prairie St Pasta

  • Smokin Willies

  • Sprinkle and Spoons

  • Taco Johns

  • Tres Cafe

In regards to music, Jera & Carol Jean will perform from 4:30-6:30 p.m. on one end of the event and the Hypotheticals will perform from 4:30-6:30 p.m on the other end. The headlining BBI band will perform from 6:30-10:30 p.m. on the main stage.

The free children’s activities — which will take place from 4-8 p.m. in the parking lot north of Simmons Street — will include a bouncy house, face painting and activities provided by the Discovery Depot.

The raffle drawing will commence at 8:15 on the main stage, with the benefits going to the Loving Bottoms Diaper Bank non-profit. Prizes include $1,000 cash, $500 cash and a basket with $500 in gift cards to local restaurants.

Boynton said that Taste of Galesburg typically features between 20-26 restaurants and that the challenges this year include lower staffing and the increased cost of some food items.

“Something that might have cost a certain price in a previous Taste of event will probably be a token or two more than it was last time just because the cost of everything has gone up for restaurants,” Boynton said. “This is an event that supports the restaurants so we want to showcase those restaurants and support the town.”

This year is also Boynton’s 5th and final year as a head-on coordinator and will be transitioning out of his role and helping a new Taste of Galesburg coordinator next year take the reins.”

“We're excited about it. There's a lot of work that goes into this event. so it would just be devastating to have a rainy day, obviously,” Boynton said. “We have a very eclectic selection of food in Galesburg, which we are blessed to have.”

For a list of menu items, visit our story on galesburg.com.

2022 Taste of Galesburg Map by register-mail on Scribd

2022 Taste of Galesburg Menu by register-mail on Scribd

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Taste of Galesburg returns in-person Thursday with 18 restaurants