Taste of Rochester Food Festival

See Gone, But Not Forgotten

The Taste of Rochester was a festival held in Downtown Rochester to show off Rochester's best (?) restaurants. It's similar to the "Taste of Buffalo" which draws about 500k people over two days.

Fifty restaurants are either selected or sign up to give out samples and sell food to the public. Local wineries as well as local brewers will also sample and sell in the wine and beer 'gardens'. For entertainment there will be a music stage where local and national acts will perform.

This is being put on by a partnership between The Results Group (an Event Promoter) and the City of Rochester. The Results Group website states turnout this year should be around 35,000-40,000 people. While no where near Buffalo's turn out, it's expected that if the festival catches on, turnout will rise to 200k people.

A 2007 R News article refers to the event as "City To Bring Back Food Festival". One was held back in ??2004?? but was not restarted until 2007.

The 2011 festival was postponed.

Comments:

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2007-05-23 08:19:38   I had noted a "Taste of Rochester" event on JayceLand back on August 3, 2000 and another at [Artisan Works] on August 21, 2004. —JasonOlshefsky

2007-07-01 16:38:15   What a great event! Excellent food, nice variety, and great value. My only complaint is that I have to add more restaurants to my "must try" list. —EastSideStephen

2007-07-02 13:51:42   Lots of good food and seemed everyone was having a good time. We went at 8PM and could barely move through the crowd. I want to go again next year but I hope they A) have a little more room elbow room and B) more local food vendors. (Papa John's and UNO Pizza were there, heck even Dinosaur isn't local to Rochester, not really.). —RickUrwin

2007-07-09 10:55:13   This was a great idea, but the execution of it needs some work. As Rick mentioned, it was completely packed. Adding another street or two and keeping all vendors on one side of the street would help a lot. The prices were perfect. I got the chance to check out Taste of Buffalo last weekend and they had a much better set-up. It was spread over multiple streets and around a large rotary, so despite the crowd, it was much easier to move. Food vendor tents were also spaced out a bit by an occasional radio station or other non-food stand. —RachelBlumenthal

2007-07-09 11:11:32   @ Rick and Rachel. I heard on the news that a lot more people attended than was expected. I think I heard they had 10K more than they thought they would, but that number could be wrong. —BadFish

2007-07-09 12:00:14   It would have been OK if the music wasn't so loud. Unable to hear my friends talk to me because of really REALLY BAD music was enough to turn me off from a visit next year. Maybe next year the organizers will have the FOOD be the focus of the Taste of Rochester. —ZedOmega

2007-07-09 15:38:15   good call regarding the music. It was obtrusive. Something like a jazz combo would have been a more appropriate choice.

I saw the overcrowding as a good thing. If the festival exceeded expectations, then there is a good chance it will be back next year (perhaps on a larger scale). —EastSideStephen

2007-07-10 18:22:27   Looks Like A Crowded House...

Crowd Picture 1, Crowd Picture 2 —RickUrwin

2008-06-28 22:11:52   Just got back from Taste of Rochester, first time I've ever been. I loved it! I got to sample from a lot of different places that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise (some place I never knew existed). Don't dismiss the festival just because Papa John's, Uno's and Dinosaur is there...there are still other places to choose from. And who cares? Maybe someone's never been there... Sure, it was a little crowded for the evening crowd (we went both for lunch and dinner) but the lines moved pretty quick and you can still find a spot where you won't get run over with a double-wide stroller. :D Go, I'm sure you'll have a great time and eat great food. I'm with EastSideStephen - a little overcrowding and maybe we'll find our other favorite LOCAL places on the list next year. —DianaRodz