Are NASCAR street race and Taste of Chicago on a collision course? Alderman raises alarm about timing of events and possible move of popular food fest.

Taste of Chicago and other city-sponsored events for 2023 were supposed to get easy approval by aldermen at a committee meeting this week. Instead, a double booking of two heavily attended events in Grant Park has thrown a wrench into the proceedings.

Taste, a summer tradition established in 1980 and typically held in early July, welcomes tens of thousands of visitors to Grant Park for food, beverages, live music, dancing, karaoke and kids’ activities.

But a downtown alderman said Tuesday that the inaugural NASCAR Chicago Street Race — which will feature top NASCAR drivers weaving in and around Grant Park — is scheduled to begin July 2, which would overlap with Taste’s typical schedule.

The 12-turn, 2.2-mile NASCAR racecourse will be on closed-off streets lined with temporary fences, grandstands and hospitality suites. The race will necessitate a partial closure of DuSable Lake Shore Drive and bring an anticipated 100,000 visitors, and setup and takedown for the race is expected to occur in the days leading up to and after the race itself.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, told reporters he found out from Navy Pier officials on Monday that the city had planned to move Taste to the pier’s Polk Brothers Park “without having any conversations with local aldermen.”

“As you know, the easiest, most convenient way to access the pier is Lake Shore Drive. Lake Shore Drive will be closed for NASCAR,” Reilly said. That would leave Illinois Street and Grand Avenue as the best routes to reach the pier, Reilly said, calling that scenario a “traffic disaster.”

“This was a planning disaster,” he added.

He requested fellow committee members hold off on approving the slate of city-sponsored events until there’s a better plan for Taste. Fellow aldermen agreed, and the ordinance will be held in the Committee for Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation — jokingly referred to as “the Happy Committee” by its chair, Ald. Nicholas Sposato, 38th.

Reilly suggested instead that the city move Taste of Chicago to another weekend, possibly in the fall.

“To try to do this all at once, that’s irresponsible,” Reilly said, suggesting that the decision be left up to the next mayor. Reilly is backing Paul Vallas in the April 4 mayoral runoff election against Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, with incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot having failed to advance beyond the first round of voting last week.

Leslie Recht, the president of the Grant Park Advisory Council, agreed that trying to hold Taste at Navy Pier at the same time as the NASCAR event would be “madness.” Like Reilly, she’s critical of the race. Recht worries the event could damage the park’s green space and the surrounding area and cut off access to the park for nearby residents — on top of the closures for the annual Lollapalooza music festival, scheduled for Aug 3-6.

Block Club Chicago recently reported Grant Park would be booked “84 days between May 18 and Aug. 13 for setting up, hosting and teardown for events,” with nearly half of those days “dedicated to preparing, running and cleaning up the July 1-2 NASCAR race.”

Madeline Long, spokesperson for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, released a statement: “Taste of Chicago is a beloved summertime tradition that is indeed happening this year. We are finalizing details for 2023 and will be announcing dates and locations for DCASE’s signature summer events in the coming weeks.”

The city did not respond to questions about whether it had proposed moving Taste to the 13-acre Polk Brothers Park, any special plans for traffic or pedestrian flow, or questions about bookings for musical entertainment. Long said those questions would be addressed once Taste is formally announced. Similar questions to officials at Navy Pier were referred back to Long. A Chicago Park District spokesperson did not respond separately.

“We’ve been in the planning stages for the 2023 Taste of Chicago, and none of the plans under consideration involve putting Taste of Chicago during NASCAR weekend,” Long clarified in a statement Thursday.

“Prior to the pandemic, Taste took place over 5 days downtown, typically with over 80 vendors and an estimated attendance of well over 1 million Chicagoans and visitors. The event contributes an estimated $106 million annually in total business activity to the Chicago economy,” Long said.

The current situation has created confusion and anxiety among those trying to plan for the annual event.

“We’ve heard a lot of different things in the last couple days,” said Marc Schulman, president of Eli’s Cheesecake, which made its debut during the first Taste of Chicago in 1980 in front of Tribune Tower and has participated every year since. “Obviously, we’re anxious. ... We love Taste, we love Taste in Grant Park, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

Sam Toia, who as the president of the Illinois Restaurant Association has helped organize restaurant vendors for the event, said Wednesday he hadn’t polled members on their thoughts about a potential move to Polk Brothers Park. City officials “have not really communicated with us what they want to do in 2023,” he said.

Taste is the “granddaddy of all festivals,” Toia added, though it was downsized from 10 days during Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration to five during Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s tenure. The change was designed to cut costs.

One newer Taste participant struck a hopeful tone about the latest potential changes.

Mr. E Chef Catering was a first-time vendor last summer and plans to participate this year as well. The eatery, which offers “comfort food for the soul,” was founded by the late Ernest Kelley lll and is now a women-owned, family-run small business in the North Center neighborhood.

”We really love the Taste of Chicago. ... We had a very exciting time, and we would love to be back again,” co-owner Meshell Madgett said. “I’ve been watching the news closely. ... Change is good, I don’t mind the change as long as we’re kept safe, the vendors and the customers. I think it’ll work. People will still come out.”

The festival has seen major shifts during Lightfoot’s tenure: Taste was all-virtual in 2020 featuring “to-go” options due to the pandemic. The decision to cancel both Taste and the Air and Water Show that year would save the city an estimated $9 million, city officials said at the time. Taste transitioned to community pop-up events in 2021 and returned last year — though bite-size — in its traditional spot around Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park on July 8-10, after a series of neighborhood events in Austin, Pullman and Little Village in the weeks prior.

Estimated attendance at Grant Park in 2022 was about 155,000 total attendees, according to DCASE, and neighborhood events had an estimated 5,200 attendees.