This was my first time at this fest and we had a great time. There was a great selection of vendors who had a wide variety of dogs and most also had a traditional Chicago dog as they should! We were there for 16 Candles and they are just pros at the festival circuit. I loved the Depression Dog from Enzo's, the Rahm and Obama from Chicago Doghouse. The Snoop Dog from flashy was good but I felt they were a little skimpy on the toppings and their lines were very confusing as they made people wait to order. And don't breeze past Taco in a Bag as they have fun takes on dogs! We did not go to the bouncy houses but that are looked awesome! There does need to be more porta pottys. We hit them at 730 on night one and was almost full and no tp! Would also love for there to be hand washing stations especially since hotdogs are eaten with your hands. Signage for having to purchase dog dollars and where to do it need to look different than the rest of the signage so people notice, or have it mentioned an beverage tent signage. I saw so many wait in line order drinks to have to leave them due to no dog dollars (although I also thought "have you never been to a festival before?"). All in all fun event! Glad there was Goode Island Green Line and happy to see the Chicago Dogs baseball team doing marketing there. Hope to be back next year! read more

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This was my first time at the Chicago Hot Dog Festival, and I'm so glad to have checked it out. PARKING: It's close to Lincoln Park Zoo, so street parking is pretty much non-existent unless you get lucky. There IS a $20 lot directly across the street. We used Spot Hero to find something cheaper. EVENT: There is a $5 SUGGESTED donation. We didn't. :X Highlights: - Many jumpy/climby houses for the kiddies - Some craft/goods vendors - Live music - Tables w seats/umbrellas AND tall standing tables - FOOD, incl. ice cream, but c'mon: hot dogs. Duh. Aforementioned FOOD: Lines varied Sunday afternoon. The longest wait time was 10 minutes or so. 1/2 size hot dogs are usually $4-5, with fulls $8-10 (except Fatso's $5 Veggie). Bottled water is $2. Tip: as with any fest, bring your own water to cut costs. I had two halves: + Char Dog (Fatso's) - 4/5 flavor, 3/5 value Standard Chicago-style dog but charred. The char taste was great, but the size? An absolute teeny tiny "half." I'd argue the dog was 1/3 size a regular link. + Momona (Chubby Weiner) - 4/5 The dog was wrapped in BACON and topped with pineapple, bleu cheese crumbles, and a drizzle of some sort. Very good. The line backed up easily, though, since the two girls taking orders ignored customers and just meandered for a while. No joke. Very annoying. The only full-sized dog I ate: + Veggie (Fatso's) - 3.5/5 Panko-crusted eggplant, sweet potato, and bell pepper hotdog, Chi-style. It had good flavor, but was total mush to eat. That's not atypical since some veggie burgers can be like that, too, depending on the ingredients used. The amount of mustard and onions they put on overwhelmed the "dog" flavor. It's nice to see veggie options, though - and for only $5! I shared some fries ($4 for a massive portion at Edzo's), water, spent UNDER $20, and left STUFFED. I'm not quite sure how people can drop $50 unless they're spending it on alcohol (it's about $6 per beer) too. OVERALL: Great event to get your encased meats fix! read more

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I thought this sounded silly in previous years but I finally thought to go, and it wasn't too bad! It was bigger than I thought: many hot dog vendors from many stores that all have different character. I tried the Soul Food dogs with ribs, traditional Chicago dog, and MacNCheese; like 2 meals in one with each. The prices are triple high for what you would pay for a hot dog but, hey, it's a special occasion. There isn't too much seating so we had to find a spot in the shade on the ground. There are rides for kids, including a horrifying sinking Titanic bouncy ship. There isn't much coverage for the relentless heat but it's in the main part of Lincoln Park which is convenient to go to. read more

Not as many vendors as I was expecting, either hot dog or beer. Entertainment was decent though - Polkaholics is always a favorite. Weather was beautiful and the set up was great. Plenty of room for picnic blankets. There were some bistro/highboy tables peppered throughout the venue as well. This is a dog friendly event, and that is great, but for fucks sake if you are going to bring your dog to an event like this please make sure they are well trained and we'll socialized. Also, please be a responsible dog owner. I saw a man with 2 small terriers watch his dog poop close to where people were waiting in line for food, look around to see if anyone noticed and then walker away without picking it up. Are you kidding me? There was also a group of women with 3 dogs who all were on retractable leashes. The dogs would jump up on people who were walking by. Get your shit together. So beware, if you are coming today. read more

First, I'm a vegetarian, so it's not usually my interest to go looking for hot dogs. Having said that, we were visiting Chicago for my husband's birthday and he wanted to check this out. We love festivals, and appreciated that they had one when we were visiting! There were about a dozen restaurants serving hot dogs, several drink vendors and a few samples. We tried some local root beer and cream soda which was delicious, had bourbon vanilla ice cream, and enjoyed the day. I felt that for a festival of its size, more seating should have been offered, and the music was quite different than I expected. Unsure if the talent was local, but it appeared to be. As the beneficiary was the History Museum, I was happy to attend, but I'm not sure I'd go back if it was just me--only 1 veggie dog on the menu. read more

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Second time at the Hot Dog festival this year. Prices range from $4-8 for a hot dog and about $6 for a beer/wine glass. Tip: the best hot dogs are the ones in the front that don't appear to be as popular. We decided to try every hot dog that sounded interesting to us. After waiting in line for 15 minutes, the poutine dog at one of the booths was completely sold out of cheese curds. My favorite hot dog: Wishbone's chili frito dog! A fun date night for a good cause! read more

Chicago Hotdog Fest - The winner! - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Chicago History Museum knows how to throw a party. FREE. $5 suggested donation benefits Chicago History Museum. Prices -- $6 Goose Island Beer seems reasonable. Bands -- impressive lineup. See photo for Entertainment Schedule. Hello Weekend and According to Sarah plays familiar songs with a personal twist. These bands play one song after the other with mucho enthusiasm. The sound system setup is balanced that I can still hear singer's voice. Vendors -- Peets Coffee, Aspire, Wishbone, Stouffers etc. Tables and Seats -- appropriately spread. read more

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Fun afternoon in the park, but be prepared for lines if you want a specific dog. I was just happy to try something new so I picked the stand with the shortest line and had a "Rahm dog" in my hands in under two minutes. Two drink tents...an inflatable Titanic slide...and some really good bands rounded out the fun. read more

Chicago Hotdog Fest - Rahm dog - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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We visited Friday afternoon and spent a good few hours enjoying the fest. I don't know if it was just the day/time but it was pleasantly un-crowded, or else the venue was just that spacious enough that we weren't walking shoulder to shoulder. The volunteers were super nice and as soon as we walked in through the gate ($5 suggested donation) a volunteer told me where I could get the kids bracelet for my son and where the food/drink tickets were sold, without me even asking. The kids had a nice big section to themselves--$5 got my son a wrist bracelet where he could jump up and slide and bounce on the huge inflatables. There was a dart throw game where the two ladies were super nice and gave him a couple extra throws and he won a stuffed animal. There were a lot of picture ops too--sitting in a giant chicago style hot dog and hot dog costumes. There didn't seem to be a lot of hot do vendors, but each vendor had at least 3-5 choices so there were some good options. I opted for the Chicago dog (I forgot where) and the Obama dog (from the Dog House). My son got a corn dog. Beverage choices were between beer, wine, sangria, sodas and water. We also split a strawberry gelato (meh) from Pinstripes. This was a lot of fun, I really liked the location near the Chicago History museum and the Zoo. There was live music which was entertaining and everyone was in a good mood. There were high top tables, some regular tables and others were picnic-ing on blankets. read more

It was my first time attending the festival. It wasn't as big as I was thinking it was going to be, which was actually kid of nice. It was dog and children friendly. There was even an area for kids to play (there were inflatables and face painting). There aren't a ton of vendors, which makes decisions easier, but most of them do have multiple hot dog options. We only went to three vendors. There's live music, which is nice to just chill out to. I'd say bring a picnic blanket or just sit on the ground to chill. There's a few tables here and there throughout. There's beer, soda and water available in terms of beverages. So here's what we tried: EDZO - poutine dog - super messy, the cheese curds were fried (boo), the fries were stale elotes corn dog - delicious, a really solid corn dog (that toppings were just extra in a good way) DOWNTOWN DOGS - loaded tots - this just means bacon and cheese, but totally worth it. super crispy tots fried pickled (spear) - it's coated in pancake batter, so think pancake vs crispy fried pickle THEORY - hawaiian dog - "grilled' pineapple, general tso sauce, crispy tortilla strips (not sure of their purpose), pretty delicious, but i think it was mostly because of the sauce TLDR: definitely worth checking out. quality vendors. super chill atmosphere read more

$5 suggested donation but do not have to pay it because it is public property. If you get food and/or drink you have to get dog money. You can get exact amount instead of sheets like at Taste of Chicago and you are stuck with 1 or 2 tickets afterwards. Prices range from $4 for half a hot dog to about $12 full dogs with fancy toppings. Person I was with liked the dog she bought. We saw the bands 'School of Rock' and Stardust Big Band' and enjoyed both of them. A couple people were dancing during the big band set. There is another section with other vendors selling ice cream, cookies, etc. There is also a section for kids with face painting, and stuff. Not my favorite festival because I don't like hot dogs, but the music is usually good and people watching is great. read more

Chicago Hotdog Fest - Hot dogs on the mind - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Went by myself to check it out DOGS: they had some inventive sounding hot dogs. The more inventive the dog stand, the lover the line. I waited in line for almost 30 minutes to get a Dorito dog which was a bit underwhelming, given the wait time. I probably should have just gone to a stand with no wait and got a hotdog there. OTHER FOOD: They had ice cream, mozzarella sticks, kabobs, fries, etc if you are not a meat or pork person. PAYMENT METHOD: You had to buy dog dollars to pay for the food. If bought at the festival, $1= $ Dog 1 . If bought in advance, the ratio is more in your favor. DRINKS: As always at these festivals, the drinks were pretty overpriced ($6 for Budlight, etc). But what was truly disappointing was the Sangria I had, which was essentially fruit juice with fruit cocktail. Very very little alcohol. read more

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first time i atend it was good my friend alex work there live music all tipes of hot dogs ,dogs are welcome was pretty good i try the chicago hot dog style and tatter toots sugest donation $5 not bad at all see you next time read more

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We had a great time at the festival. There were amazing inflatables for the kids, live music, lots of hotdog stands with different kinds of hotdogs. Hotdogs I've never heard of before. Some retail booths, and even props to take pictures. There were some stands who ran out of food, so I wasn't able to try my first choice. The the venders were friendly. There is a suggested "donation" to get in. I don't care for that to much, but it does go toward the History Museum. So I see the benefit. I would recommend doing this event. read more

I ran into the Chicago Hotdog Fest almost by accident while visiting Chicago recently for my birthday. The event supports the Chicago History museum and it's free, but there is a suggested donation of $5 at the entrance. There was live music and a number of vendors, but all food and drink had to be bought with "dog dollars" which you had to purchase separately. While there were a number of different vendors serving dogs, the lines were very long and almost all served basically the same Chicago style hotdog. I did get one of the event t-shirts, which were pretty great, and it was fun to check it out, but I doubt I'd go out of my way again to go unless they can get some real variety in the types of hotdogs available. read more

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First timer: I loved hot dog fest! There was a variety of foods not just hot dogs. The music was awesome ( shoutout to the polkaholics!) and purchasing the tickets was pretty smooth. A guy gave me 2 beers for the price of 1 so 5 stars regardless. Would definitely recommend if you like hot dogs. read more

We volunteered for this event over the summer, and have to say that it was so much fun! The music was well connecting people of all ages, and yes! the food was fun, very creative hotdog recipes out there. I recommend going at least once on a beautiful Chicago day! read more

Says free but $5 donation each to get in. Hot Dogs are $9 with drinks and fries extra. Long lines and no seats. Very crowded. Good cause but about $50 per couple for a meal? Not worth it. read more

For starters I loved that it was a fest that did not charge an entry fee or ask for an "optional" donation! Kids area had tons to keep them occupied and the hot dogs...wow! So much variety and being able to get 1/2 dogs made it so much nicer to be able to taste more! The live music throughout the day just added to the ambiance. Everyone was happy and just having a great time while stuffing their faces and being messy! read more

Chicago Hotdog Fest - Gotta pose with a chubby wiener at a hot dog fest! - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I've been wanting to go to this fest for a long time. It was just ok. Long lines, not many vendors or selection. $50 not well spent.