2024 Review! This is the third year my partner and I have been to the Taste of Roselle! The festival is the first weekend in August every year on Friday evening and all day Saturday/Sunday. They have a mix of food vendors, artisan tents, and carnival rides. There is all live music each evening with 3-4 bands rotating timeslots. The entire event spans on Main Street from Park St to Roselle Rd. Each year we have gone, there have been some consistent food vendors but always some new! They always have Doctor Dogs, Italian Pizza Kitchen, and Pollyanna serving beers, seltzers, and some of Lynfred's wines. The first booth we stopped at was Chicago Culinary Kitchen out of Palatine. Their menu offered a variety of BBQ style sandwiches with unique flavors. My partner got the Pit Beef Sandwich ($17). Forewarning, the horseradish sauce did not disappoint on the spice level and meat was tasty! The second booth we stopped at was Aunt Tina's which offers souther style cuisine. They had a "tasting menu" where all items were $6; I got the mac and cheese as well as cornbread fritters. Mac and Cheese was creamy and hit the spot. The cornbread fritters I would pass in next time. read more

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Lots of vendors and good entertainment. Went for the beer and music. The food is super expensive for what you get in my opinion. I did share a Mexican plate with my wife and it was very good. read more

Always a fun suburban festival. Lots of food vendors, beer, band and carnival rides. It's always the first weekend in August read more

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Pretty decent experience as far as summer fests go and in comparison to past Taste of Roselle events I've attended. To start, a lot of free parking in the nearby Metra lot and on the residential streets, if you dont mind the walk. The Friday night crowd was pretty packed, but not so bad you couldn't navigate your way through, while holding food or drink. I enjoyed the Pollyanna raspberry wheat and "lemonty" beers as well as the free tiny wing samples from wing stop. In my opinion, I wouldn't call it as much a taste of local Roselle foods, as there seemed to be a lot of new food trucks and vendors that weren't necessarily in this city? But I didn't exactly make it around to see every single booth. People I talked to were raving about the crab cakes vendor and of course, the Toasty Cheese truck. The local places like 8,000 miles and 1913 were very busy with what seemed like pretty filled tables before dark. And you can never go wrong with a local wine tasting in Roselle! This is easily one of my favorite local fests to visit and the attendees seem really nice and considerate here compared to other places or festivals. I'll be back in the Fall for Lynfred's annual pig roast! read more

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I was pretty disappointed with the Taste of Roselle as I really didn't see the local presence I was hoping for. I've been living in Schaumburg for 4 years now and am still discovering new places in the area. I was hoping Taste of Roselle would introduce me to even more! I found it to be filled with the usual cheesy carnival & fair & street festival vendors. They had stands for funnel cakes, deep fried everything, pizza, blahblahblah, none of those were actual local vendors though. Cheesy cheap gift vendors polluted the area as well. I was happy to see Toasty Cheese which has come to be known as the best food truck we have in the burbs, hands down. My friends and I got in line there and were pleased with everything we got from there, as always. Honestly though so many good food spots had no representation - even 8000 Miles which is right there on the street had nothing, plus neighboring Lynfred Winery which is probably the biggest attraction in Roselle. My friends were so unhappy with the street festival that we left in less than an hour. I was disappointed because the weather was nice and there was an 80s cover band on the schedule that night. Parking is insane around there during the Taste of Roselle. Very hard to find parking and unless it's really convenient for you, I wouldn't recommend bothering taking the train because the fest isn't worth it. I would go again next year to give it one more try but please bring in more local vendors/restaurants! Make it a *true* Taste of Roselle. I hate to do comparisons but I grew up in Glenview and the Glenview Street Sale was a model for this type of street fair. It's a day only fest with only local vendors and restaurants----only. None of this carnival style stuff. read more

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I always thought it was kind of odd that Yelp lets people review non-Yelp events. After all, events are fleeting (yearly, monthly, whatever), and usually include more than one business and/or form of entertainment. People show up at different times, experience different things, and go with different people. But here it is. The Taste of Roselle (2013). Having moved here a year ago, I've been trying to take advantage of all Roselle has to offer and was pretty excited about the Taste. I wanted to experience more local businesses and figured this was the perfect event to get some Roselle summer in me! The Taste lasted three days and the 'grounds' stretched across several blocks of downtown Roselle, next to the train tracks. My husband and I went twice -- on Friday night and Sunday night. We didn't stay very long. A quick walk around, finding something to eat, and people-watching was all we needed before we left. The bands and activities weren't too appealing to us -- I guess they're more for families or people with a lot of beer in them (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). One block consisted of drinks and entertainment, another was devoted to the food stands, and one more block held tents with items for sale and a few low-key carnival rides. They had a decent beer/entertainment tent with lots of seating and live bands. Another tent somewhere on the grounds had people playing some crazy bingo one night. One parking lot had a jumpy house and gladiator jousting. My husband and I had fun watching people knock each other down. We strolled through the tents with items for sale and marveled at the machine spitting out white bubbles (when they popped, it was a tiny explosion of water vapor or something). It was definitely cool to see what people had to offer. I was disappointed with the food selection. Although I was excited see Toasty Cheese as well as a couple of my favorite pizza joints, there were too many generic carnival-like food stands (and a Dippin' Dots truck) scattered among the local food stands. Greek, Chinese, and Italian food were all options, along with burgers, ribs, funnel cakes, gelato, crab cakes, and the like. I wished that the Taste was only restaurants local to the Roselle area -- but I guess there's so few restaurants that they had to pull in some from neighboring suburbs. I was a bit surprised to note a couple Roselle establishments didn't have booths. Actually, I didn't see any of my favorite Roselle spots other than the library. Oh well. There was still something for everyone. Roselle doesn't have too many big events, so it was cool to finally visit a nice little festival in a sweet little town that we could just walk to! read more

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Went on the first night, Friday. Arrived at 6:15 pm. Not too packed and we found residential parking not too far away. Great food vendors that are not commercial, all local eateries. We had amazing fries at a poutine place - beef tallow and truffle fries - both crispy perfection. Then the best part - Kurtos Kalacs - roll cakes baked over charcoal, rolled in sugar and walnuts, coconut or cinnamon. A Romanian sweet bread that is not too heavy. Took it home and placed in a sealed bag for the week. (at the advice of the vendor) So good. Of course, Lynfred wine was had with it's excellence. Overall, a great night and not too crowded. A friend had the Old Salem Cafe, a Bavarian vendor, and had such great food. Need to return for the beef offerings. For a person who does not like crazy crowds this was good for families and others. Of course, we left by 9. :) read more

My husband and I had a good time at the Taste of Roselle for an impromptu Date Night, but I must echo the sentiments of others when I say that we were pretty disappointed that Taste of Roselle didn't give people a better understanding of what Roselle has to offer. The crafts vendors were from all over and most of their wares were things you can find at tradeshows (Scentsy, Jamberry, weird kitchen gadgets imported from Germany and Asia). The food area was slightly better. At least they had some stuff from the suburbs. I had been super excited to ride some rides but realized they were for children only. They also had a games area, but we skipped that and grabbed some bites and played bingo for the rest of our time there. I got the El Chingón sandwich from Toasty Cheese's truck (out of Schaumburg) and he picked up a pound of rib tips from Real Urban Barbecue's tent (out of Oak Brook). I also introduced him to the world of fried goodness à la Suzie's Fun Foods & Funnel Cakes (out of St. Charles), but that was something that you can find at any fair and there was another company with almost the same menu a couple spots down. We'd likely have grabbed some beer and listened to the music in one of the tents, but it was more beverages that you can find anywhere - Mike's Hard Lemonade and MGD. C'mon, guys! People already think the suburbs are pretty cookie cutter and lame. Let's not prove them right with events like this that supposedly showcase a village and then gloss over the fact that too many of the booths don't represent Roselle. read more

Taste of Roselle - Rib Tips from Real Urban Barbecue at Taste of Roselle - Festivals Near Me - Roselle, Illinois

This year was the first time I've been to Taste of Roselle, and I have to say that it wasn't half bad! I was STOKED to see the variety of food vendors: Chinese, Thai, Filipino, Greek, Italian, BBQ, fried foods and sandwiches (even with some veggie options!), Dippin' Dots (not a fan, but still..), the Toasty Cheese food truck... It was MUCH better than another "fest" I was at the night before. We went on Sunday afternoon and focused on the food, though there were also goods, crafts, and packaged foods (fudge, Pampered Chef) for sale. There was some seating available, street parking was a breeze, and everything was clean. In the future I'd make a point to come at a time when there is live music or maybe more going on, but that's my own fault. Verdict: A-OK, and it's nice and local. I'll be back! read more

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Always look forward to the Tast of Roselle. This year did not disappoint Thanks to the Roselle Lions for putting on a great fest this year. Music, food and beer options were top notch. Craft fair and carnival rides were fun for the whole family. read more

I was so disappointed in this festival. I did go once years back and was not thrilled so I decided let's try again. As noted by other yelp replies this 'TASTE OF ROSELLE' is a misnomer. They just need to call it a Roselle Fest, none of the vendors were local, all street vendors AND the prices!! $8.00 for a brat!! seriously!! The bands were ok and played at various locations up/down the street. The best part I think were the beer spots for Pollyanna, they had some very interesting beer choices so I tried the Maple Fun Stout beer, a creamy dessert-like beer that was very refreshing. Lynfred Winery one of the hallmarks of the town had NOTHING!! I was shocked they did not serve any of their wines at a booth, they closed their doors at 7pm. They did not extend their hours or have any specials for the fest. When I compare this to other fests I have gone to this is definitely a 1 star event. This will be my final time going, just not worth it, others are much better. read more

Actually I would give it a zero if I could. Every year, the quality of food decreases but the prices go up. $8 bucks for 2 BBQ slider size sandwiches? Italian Pizza Kitchen had boxes of pizza delivered to put in warmers. And situating it next to a bathroom remodeling booth? Yucky. Next year I will avoid parking 3 blocks away and heading home in an hour. And that included walking the entire fest, eating and finding no entertainment at 8pm on a Saturday. Roselle, you can do so much better!! read more