Taste of Joliet returns this weekend

Biggest Joliet summer festival back after two years of being beached by COVID-19

Workers set up the Ferris wheel Tuesday inside Joliet Memorial Stadium for the Taste of Joliet set for June 24th through the 26th. Tuesday, June 21, 2022 in Joliet.

Joliet Memorial Stadium — Taste of Joliet is back this weekend after two years of being canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which isn’t quite done yet trying to spoil the fun of the city’s biggest summer festival.

The top headline act for Friday night’s music stage, Ann Wilson of Heart, was canceled this week due to COVID-19 illness in her band and crew.

“It’s unfortunate,” Joliet Park District Executive Director Brad Staab said. “But I think that’s the world we’re living in right now, and we’ll make the best of it.”

Which is what the park district, which organizes the annual event, plans to do.

Advance ticket sales, public response and food vendor interest all indicate a strong turnout Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Staab said.

“If the weather holds up, we’re expecting crowds like what we’ve seen before,” he said. “On Fridays and Saturdays, if the weather holds up, usually we get 20,000 to 25,000 [each day].”

Another 8,000 to 10,000 may show up on Sunday.

Taste of Joliet is at Memorial Stadium, 3000 W. Jefferson St.

The nationally known performers are what draw the large crowds. But the food vendors, carnival and casual atmosphere tend to give the event the flavor of an annual homecoming for the city.

“It’s great to get the community back together after the struggles with [COVID-19],” said Bob Soto, owner of Joliet Tent, who was setting up at the stadium Wednesday. “It’s great to have Taste of Joliet back. It’s good to have friends and family come out. It’s good to have the community come out again.”

Soto has provided tents for the event since it started.

The lineups for the music stage remain strong all three days even with Ann Wilson out Friday, Staab said.

“There are still two national headliners [Friday],” he said.

Collective Soul and Sugar Ray will perform Friday, and they will be preceded by regional favorites 7th Heaven and Hot Mess.

The country music lineup for Saturday is Brett Young, Jimmie Allen, Maddie & Tae, Matt Stell and Gen Fuze.

The park district for years has tried to find the right fit for the stage on the shortened Sunday family day schedule, and Staab said Hispanic music seems to have struck the right chord.

Sunday performers this year will be Lupillo Rivera, Banda Potrillos and Hereos del Norte.

An added attraction this year will be the use of three Jumbotrons instead of one to give concert-goers an electronic view of the bands performing live on stage.

The Jumbotrons, too, are an attraction.

Staab said “a huge crowd” typically gathered around the one Jumbotron, which had been set up to the side of the stage. Having three means fans in bleachers on both sides of the stadium now will have Jumbotron views, he noted.

Aside from the additional Jumbotrons, much of Taste of Joliet will be like it always is with traditional food vendors and daytime attractions for families.

Sunday features a Princesses and Superheroes event from 1 to 3 p.m.

“The kids come dressed and the characters are here,” Staab said. “They can get their pictures taken with the characters.”

Tickets for Friday and Saturday are $20 at the gate but $18 if bought online in advance, and that covers both general admission and the concerts. On Sunday, tickets are $10.

Taste opens at 3 p.m. Friday when it runs to midnight. Saturday hours are noon to midnight. Sunday is noon to 10 p.m.