Oak Brook’s biggest annual event, the Taste of Oak Brook, returns July 3, with an earlier start time than in previous years.
This year’s event begins at 2 p.m., giving attendees an extra hour at the festival, 700 Oak Brook Road. Taste of Oak Brook, which offers free admission, continues until the conclusion of the popular fireworks show, which starts after a 9:30 p.m. drone show.
“We heard interest from some residents about starting a little earlier,” said Michael Manzo, a Village Board liaison to the Sports Core Committee. “I think it’s especially something some of our seniors like, and we know the vendors like it, too.”
Always scheduled for July 3, Taste of Oak Brook is expected to have 17 to 19 food vendors, the most ever, Manzo said.
“We’ll have a really nice variety of restaurants represented, including several from Oak Brook,” he said.
New to Taste of Oak Brook this year is a golf simulator that offers a chance to win $2,500 for a hole in one, and prizes of a round of golf for four people at the Oak Brook Golf Club along with a 2027 membership to the village’s Bath & Tennis Club for a closest-to-the hole competition. Chances at the golf simulator are $10.
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Entertainment for the day, which will be presented on a larger stage than in past years, with a video screen, is highlighted with a 7:30 to 9 p.m. concert by the band Sixteen Candles, which has attracted enthusiastic crowds in the past at Taste of Oak Brook. The tribune band, Morgan Wallen Experience, performs from 4 to 6 p.m.
Manzo said the popular kids activity, face painting, returns as well.
“We’ll also have a stilts walker for a couple of hours — dressed up in red, white, and blue — who will walk around and take pictures with whoever wants to,” he said.
Parking for Taste of Oak Brook is available for advance purchase, or day-of, with multiple options, including Value, Preferred, VIP, and Handicap parking, each with designated entry points. Advanced parking may be purchased through an online link at www.oak-brook.org/1280/Taste-of-Oak-Brook.
Due to safety concerns, personal tents and canopies will be prohibited. The village is offering private group spaces with 10 X10 tents that will accommodate small groups and offer a picnic table, a fenced-in grassy area, and private air-conditioned bathrooms, and two preferred parking passes for $850. These spaces also may be purchased online at the same website as parking.
Village President Larry Herman said the Taste of Oak Brook is one of the community’s most anticipated summer traditions,
“It brings residents together, welcomes visitors, highlights our dynamic dining scene, public safety services, and strong sense of community that make Oak Brook such a desirable place to live and work,” he said.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.