CINCINNATI -- A record-tying crowd of 550,000 people attended this year's Taste of Cincinnati, organizers announced Tuesday.
The annual Memorial Day weekend event has grown from its modest origins at Piatt Park into one of the largest parties in the Tri-State. The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber manages Taste, which just celebrated its 39th year.
Instead of hugging Fountain Square, Taste shifted two blocks east this year to make way for the city's new streetcar system.
"The addition of Taste of Findlay Market, a Taste of Cincinnati signature cocktail, an expanded Rhinegeist Food Truck Alley, good weather, and a new, more spacious Fifth Street location helped make Taste of Cincinnati 2017 one of the best ever," Jill Meyer, Chamber president and CEO, said in a news release.
PHOTOS: What you missed at this year's Taste
Nearly 75 restaurants, food trucks and entrepreneurs participated this year, offering more than 300 menu items and 100 beer varieties. Forty-four of the beers were brewed locally, and more than 6 in 10 businesses participating in Taste were new to the event.
Since 2013, the Chamber has donated $80,000 to support regional culinary and entrepreneurial growth. That includes a $15,000 donation this year to the Findlay Market Foodpreneur Fund, supporting fledgling food entrepreneurs from Findlay Kitchen.
Taste of Cincinnati returns for its 40th year May 26 to 28, 2018.
