The Joliet Park District sought city help to no avail before making the decision to end Taste of Joliet.

Taste of Joliet has been the biggest event in the city since it was resurrected in 2006, growing to the point that it drew tens of thousands of people over the course of three days of big-name music entertainment.

But when the Joliet Park District sought help from the city, which created a new special events department this year to expand attractions in the city, there was little interest in saving the event.

“They didn’t turn us down,” Park District Executive Director Brad Staab said. “They just said they would look into it.”

Staab confirmed that he met with Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy and City Manager Beth Beatty seeking city help before the decision was made to end Taste of Joliet.

He suggested either city funding or staffing to bolster Taste of Joliet as park officials considered whether the event should continue.

City support was not a make-or-break factor in the decision to end the event, Staab said. But the city did not provide any answers before the park district announced this week that it would no longer hold Taste of Joliet and would replace it with a downscaled event in 2027.

“They never formally told us no,” Staab said. “It was a discussion, and we had to make a decision.”

D’Arcy has been the the single biggest financial contributor to Taste of Joliet through his car dealerships, which have been the major sponsor for the event since 2006.

“That’s the largest sponsorship I do every year,” D’Arcy said.

And, he expects to be the major sponsor of whatever new event the park district develops for 2027.

But D’Arcy said he did not see anything the city could do to keep the event going in 2026 given growing wariness that it was becoming too risky to hire high-priced music acts that could turn the event into a big financial loss if the weather turned bad.

“The level of talent had gotten to the point where we just couldn’t afford a hiccup,” D’Arcy said.

Taste of Joliet may have become a victim of it’s own success with expectations growing every year for top entertainment that could not be funded through ticket sales.

The event has never lost money, according to park officials. But the margins have been razor thin at times. The event generated $1.16 million this year, including $325,000 in donated money from corporate sponsorships, and ended with a profit of $500.

The attendance of 42,000 this year under extreme heat in late June was down from some past Taste events. Attendance always has been dependent on the weather.

“I think it was time to take a new look at this thing and see if it can be feasible down the road,” D’Arcy said.

Whether the city’s growing special events department will have any input in the new event that the park district develops is unclear.

But the city’s special events specialist apparently was not involved in the the discussion on whether to keep the most popular event in Joliet going.

The city hired Ann Sylvester in July at a salary of $150,000 for the newly created position of director of cultural affairs and special events.

The week, the City Council approved a budget that creates a second position of cultural affairs coordinator at a salary of $90,000, although two council members voted against it in part because of opposition to the new position.

The major focus of the office is to develop events that draw people into Joliet.

D’Arcy said Sylvester was never called in to consider saving Taste of Joliet.

“This is not in Ann Sylvester’s wheelhouse,” he said. “We don’t have the capacity.”

The city has always provided police and fire protection at Taste of Joliet at no cost, a significant contribution. Beyond that, there wasn’t anything more the city could do if Taste of Joliet was going to be staged again in 2026, D’Arcy said.

“To say that we can pick up an event like that on a two-to-three month basis, it’s just not possible,” D’Arcy said.