Taste of Chicago 2009 Will Bring Big Money to City

Taste of Chicago features fireworks and food

A traditional Chicago Dog: all beef Hot Dog, yellow mustard, relish, onions, tomato wedges, pickle spear or slice, peppers and a dash of celery salt on a steamed poppyseed bun.

Taste of Chicago 2009 promises to be as big as ever, which is pretty big. In fact, Taste of Chicago is the largest outdoor food festival in the world.

It started out smaller in 1980, when the Taste of Chicago was held for the first time. At first, the festival was on the Fourth of July, but Taste of Chicago 2009 is a 10-day extravaganza that is sure to bring tons of traffic, tourists and, of course, money to Chicago.

Inexpensive cuisine

Taste of Chicago 2009 isn’t all about money. In fact, the food is pretty cheap. The hundreds of booths at Chicago’s famed Grant Park serve up all kinds of cuisine in exchange for tickets. Don’t dream of going up to a booth at Taste of Chicago 2009 and saying “Take my cash now!” Food vendors only exchange food for tickets.

Tickets cost $8 a dozen, making each ticket only about 66 cents. Most of the booths offer “taste” options for 2 or 3 tickets. There are so many booths, you could hit only a tiny percentage of them and chose the “taste” option, which adds up to between $1 and $2 and be stuffed.Think of it this way, if you buy your dozen tickets for $8, you will be able to sample food from four places, possibly six. Regular-size portions cost about 10 tickets ($6.60) and most booths serve half-size portions for six or seven tickets. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Taste of Chicago 2009 Will Bring Big Money to City"