While some people plan to spend their summers at the beach or music festivals, here at Spoon University, we love the sun for the food festivals. While summer cookouts are all well and good, there’s nothing like spending the day at a festival and getting to experience new and exciting foods that are both Insta-worthy and mouthwatering. Depending on what festivals you visit, you can find food ranging from Midwest classics like cheese curds and funnel cake to gourmet food trucks. There are so many amazing food festival options for the summer of 2023, it’s hard to choose just five, but any of these Midwest food festivals are sure to please your inner foodie and even give you a few new ideas to try at home.
Milwaukee Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival
Date: July 29, 2023, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Plaza at Fiserv Forum, 111 N Vel R Phillips Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Price: Tickets $7 Online, $12 at the door
There is something special about food truck festivals in the summer. Aside from the wide variety of food, the food truck aesthetic is sure to please festival foodies and newcomers alike, giving those in attendance some creative food truck designs to look at while experiencing all the amazing different smells. This food truck festival is the ultimate food festival in Milwaukee this summer. This event, created by Food Trucks of America (@ftfofamerica), travels all around the U.S. to feature food, brews, and artisan creations. This festival's vendor lineup is truly impressive, featuring over 30 different food trucks, brewers, and vendors highlighting globally-inspired street foods that are sure to please all attendees. This is the perfect event for anyone looking to try as many types of foods as possible while spending the day out in the sun.
For proper food truck enthusiasts, there are also Foodie VIP tickets available for $22 that include early admission to the event (11 am), one free dessert from the VIP dessert truck, and bottled water while supplies last.
Taste of Madison
Date: September 2, 2023 to September 3, 2023
Location: Capitol Square, Madison, Wisconsin
Price: Free to attend, food and beverage available for purchase
The Taste of Madison is another exciting summer food festival, close to the UWM campus and a perfect festival for college students in the area to attend. Scheduled for Labor Day Weekend, this is the perfect festival to finish out your summer break. Though a complete menu for this event will not be finalized until August, in previous years this event has hosted vendors from 70 different restaurants, more than 200 menu items, 26 beverage stands, and 3 live music stages.
All food items are priced between $1 and $6, giving attendees the chance to try many different types of food from different vendors without being too expensive, making this the perfect food festival for newcomers to enjoy. Some of the featured vendors highlighted from Taste of Madison’s Facebook page include The Ugly Apple Cafe, and Dolce Desserts By Dominique.
Wisconsin State Fair
Date: August 3 to 13, 2023
Location: Wisconsin State Fair Park, 640 South 84th Street, West Allis, Wisconsin
Price: Tickets $13-$15, Parking $15While the Wisconsin State Fair may have started as an agriculture fair, there are some truly amazing food trends that come out of this festival. At this Midwest event, you can find all kinds of food vendors, but what makes this festival stand out is the extremely popular Sporkies competition, a competition that allows vendors to create new and exciting dishes. In celebration of this, the Wisconsin State Fair has also added The Drinkies, a signature beverage competition. The Wisconsin State Fair lists the amazing finalists of the Drinkies, including the Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Iced Latte, Cotton Candy Lemonade, The Ferris Mule, and a Mango Tango Tajin.
Sporkies finalists include Beer Cheese Wisconsin Lava Cake, slider buns filled with famous beer cheese soup, topped with butter and pretzel salt, and drizzled with house-made hot honey and red pepper flakes, Dill Pickle Donuts, a yeast-raised donut "frosted" with a dill pickle juice whipped cream cheese and topped with thick cut dill pickles and a dill sprinkle, and Sweet and Savory Funnel Cake “Fries”, topped with savory cheese curds and crispy bacon pieces, then drizzled with a rich chocolate sauce and a sweet cream cheese frosting glaze. These competitions will be judged by some amazing food culture figures, like Food Network’s Chef Adam Pawlak, Chef Ashley Turner, Judy H. of MKEeeeeats and a Milwaukee-based culinary content creator, Melanie Ricks, Radio Personality and Milwaukee Bucks in-game host, Ryan Castelaz, from Discourse Coffee and The Counter Day Bar, Sandra Dempsey, from Source Ten and Estamos Unidos US, and Steve Novak, a sportscaster, former NBA Player, and Marquette University alumnus.
All of the dishes in the Sporkies and Drinkies competitions will be for sale by the vendors who created them, so you can judge for yourself which dish deserves the title of best dish/beverage.
Chicago Gourmet
Date: September 21 to September 24, 2023
Location: Harris Theater Rooftop, Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois
Price: TBD
This food festival is a step up from the more rural food festivals in the Midwest, with the cosmopolitan feel of the city of Chicago. This multiple-day event features different foods and locations around Chicago each day, starting with Tacos and Tequila on September 21, which includes an amazing selection of premium tequilas and mezcals, the Hamburger Hop on September 22 atop the Harris Theater Rooftop, where visitors can try burger and beer or wine pairings, followed by a gourmet afterparty at TAO Chicago. Saturday, September 23 will feature the Grand Cru, where visitors can enjoy learning from sommeliers and mixologists while enjoying some gourmet food pairings. The final day of the festival features Prost! In the Park, celebrating the best parts of Oktoberfest in September. Tickets for this festival are not yet available, but be sure to keep an eye out because this is the perfect festival for foodies with more upscale food tastes.
Taste of Chicago
Date: September 8 to September 10, 2023
Location: Grant Park, 337 E. Randolph St., Chicago, Illinois
Price: Free AdmissionOne of the most famous Midwest food festivals, the Taste of Chicago, brings the love of food to the entire city. With the final 2023 Taste of Chicago event taking place in Grant Park, those who visit this event will get to experience both Chicago classic dishes as well as international fare from over 30 vendors. Popular vendors include Caribbean food from Whadda Jerk, dumplings, boa-wiches, and rice balls from Yum Dum, Chicago classic Buona Beef, and Chicago's Original Cheese Crust Tacos from Taco Sublime. This festival would be the perfect end to a foodie’s summer, spending the day in the city and getting to experience the true melting-pot experience of Chicago food culture.