Taste goes green, healthy

Could this year's Taste of Chicago, the 28th, set a new attendance record?

It might. The weather seers are predicting somewhat higher-than-average temperatures (which inspire people to head for the lakefront) for the next week, and sky-high gasoline prices are keeping people a lot closer to home this summer. Torn between a $50 tank of gas and a $5 Metra ticket, unprecedented numbers of suburbanites and city folk could very well forswear the weekend getaway trip and make it a Grant Park vacation instead.

Mayor Daley suggested as much at Taste's press preview two weeks ago, urging his fellow citizens to take public transportation, organize car pools or ride bicycles (free bike valet parking again this year).

That's good advice any year—parking spaces are limited and expensive—but it's especially apt this year, when Taste of Chicago is trying to make a bit of a "green" statement. This year, Taste will be recycling its used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel, and biodiesel generators will power some of the entertainment stages. There will be more places to recycle cups, cans and plastic bottles (glass bottles aren't permitted on the site), and there will even be special recycling bins for those no-longer-needed Taste brochures.

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