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What to expect at this year's Taste of Bloomington festival

Kirkwood Avenue crowded with people attending the Taste of Bloomington.
George Hale
/
WFIU/WTIU News
Last year's Taste of Bloomington, the first in five years, drew almost 20,000 people to Kirkwood Avenue. This year's festival will take place Saturday.

The Taste of Bloomington returned last year after a five-year hiatus and was, by all accounts, a resounding success.
But that success led to some changes this year.

Around 20,000 people attended last year’s event along the Kirkwood Ave. cooridor, leading to crowd congestion on the street and around vendor areas, and a lot of trash to deal with.

Read more: Taste of Bloomington to be bigger, easier to navigate

So, this year, organizers are expanding the footprint of the festival and tweaking the layout of vendors to provide more space. They’re also moving the kid’s area from People’s Park to inside at the Monroe County History Center.

There will also be more vendors this year – 75 compared to 50 last year – and a third music stage added at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

Read more: Taste of Bloomington website

The festival will run from 3 to 10 p.m. And, like last year, all food will cost $5 or less.

On this week’s Noon Edition, we’ll talk with the festival organizer and vendors about what they learned last year, changes coming this year and what food and drink will be available.

Join us on the air by calling 812-855-0811 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send questions for the show to news@indianapublicmedia.org.

Guests
Bob Costello, Owner, Village Deli and Soma Coffeehouse and Juice Bar
Jordan Davis, Organizer, Taste of Bloomington and owner, The Chocolate Moose
Mike McAfee, Executive Director, Visit Bloomington
Rachel Wiehe, Owner, Weirdough Cookie Co.

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Patrick Beane spent three decades as a journalist at The Herald-Times in Bloomington before joining the staff at WFIU/WTIU News. He began his career at the newspaper after graduating from Indiana University in 1987 and was the sports editor from 2010-2020. His duties at the paper included writing, copy editing, page design and managing the sports department.