Taste of Chicago tells vendors from outside Chicago that they are no longer welcome

The yearly "Taste Of Chicago" is one of the highlights of the summer festival season in Chicago - it is when thousands upon thousands brave the overpriced city parking to spend an insane amount of money on fairly mediocre food. In recent years, the assortment of vendors included several restaurants from outside the Chicago city limits - something that has come to an end.

According to the organizers, all vendors were told back in 2007 that participants had to be Chicago based, and they had a three year grace period to comply. For the 2010 lineup, five suburban vendors have been dropped, and the Taste is going back to its "roots" of only allowing Chicago based firms to sell their goods.

One of the city Aldermen even suggested that the city grant preferential treatment to Chicago residents for seating at the Pritzker music pavilion. Apparently he was "fed up with suburbanites who park their fannies in the Pritzker Pavillion's 4,000 seats and on the lawn".

Well, there really isn't any better way to tell tourists that they are not welcome, and I'm sure many of those suburbanites and tourists wouldn't mind spending their money at other festivals. Take for example the fantastic Summerfest in Milwaukee, where in my opinion the variety of food is much better than that on offer at the Taste Of Chicago.

Have you ever been to Taste Of Chicago? What did you think of it?