This year’s Taste of Bloomington event organizer Jordan Davis hopes to keep the event on Kirkwood Avenue, saying he thinks the location was one reason for the event’s huge growth. He said data from two crowd-size models showed the event more than doubled in size from 2019, the last time the Taste was held.
One method using the number of cell phones in the area counted about 34,700 attendees, hitting a peak of 14,700 attendees, Davis said. Based on photos taken at various times of the day there were a total of over 20,000 individuals with a peak of almost 9,000 individuals.
In 2019 tickets were required. About 10,000 people attended based on ticket sales, but it has not been held since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
The Taste supports local businesses by showcasing local restaurants, breweries, wineries and distilleries. This year, vendors at the event generated almost a quarter of million dollars in revenue.
Read more: Taste of Bloomington returns Saturday after five years
“I think it was cathartic for the entire community,” Davis said. “It almost is like maybe we're finally past the pandemic, you know, because that's what killed it in the first place. And now it was back. It was in a new place. It was re-envisioned.”
Other core values that Davis said helped the event’s success he aims to keep is making the event free and most of the food items $5 or less, he said.
Despite the event’s success there are a couple improvements to be made, Davis said, such as the flow of traffic in intersections and keeping people walking in the cross walk. He also said more electrical power is needed for vendors.
Read more: Taste of Bloomington returns, drawing large crowds
“We were only able to source power to one of the five blocks, you know, without using generators, and so that's why all the restaurants, most of them, were grouped into one block,” Davis said. “So, we're going to try to spread that out a little bit more.”
Tentatively next year’s Taste of Bloomington will be Aug.1.
