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Food and more at Elmwood Park Taste
Natalie Villegas (right) of Elmwood Park and her son Nyzaiah, 3, watch as Amanda McCarron (left) hands out a Hawaiian shaved ice cone with Alex Andrzejewski at Ms. Cindy's Concessions during the Taste of Elmwood Park. | Ryan Pagelow~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: September 24, 2012 6:53AM
ELMWOOD PARK —
Can’t have a good outdoor event without food, and there was plenty at this weekend’s Taste of Elmwood Park.
The event, which started the evening of Aug. 17 and ended at 7 p.m. Aug. 19, also had live entertainment and activities for young and old. The event took place at Central Park at the corner of 75th and Fullerton avenues.
Elmwood Park Fire Chief Mike Marino, who has organized the event since the 1980s, said he was happy with this year’s event.
“I thought it was wonderful,” he said. “There was a ton of good food. Anything you can think of to eat, it was there. There was a lot of garlic.”
“We had two vendors doing the usual carnival food,” he said. “We had other guys doing corn on the cob, meatball sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers.”
He said he would have liked more participation from village restaurants, but times have changed. “A lot of the old timers don’t want to do it anymore,” he said.
So he reached out to Elmwood Park residents who owned restaurants and food establishments outside of the village.
“The weather was outstanding,” he said. “The entertainment was great. On Saturday night, it was packed, standing room only along the stage.”
Elmwood Park Police Chief Frank Fagiano said there were no major incidents, just a few people who had a little too much to drink in the beer garden.
While Marino is happy with this year’s event, he wouldn’t mind being replaced.
“I’ve been doing it since the mid-80s,” he said. “I’m hoping to pass the torch on to someone else.”
