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Yummy weekend helps Taste set attendance record

Tana Weingartner
/
WVXU

If you were at Taste of Cincinnati last weekend and thought it seemed busier than usual, you were right.  Lance Barry with the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber said the final estimate for the three-day event is in, and it's a record.

"We are projecting our numbers for the weekend to be right around 550,000," said Barry.  " We were expecting them to be right around a half-million at 500,000, but we're now very easily projecting, comfortably, a 10-percent increase from even where we thought we'd be for the weekend."

Barry said it was not only a record for all three days, but also a record opening day on Saturday.  He said the combination of beautiful weather, the Reds games and new attractions at Taste, such as Taste Experience and Food Truck Alley, helped drive up attendance.

Since Taste is a free event where people can just walk up, food and beverage sales are analyzed to come up with the final attendance figure.

Other fun facts from Taste ’13:

  • Rumpke recycled 4,720 pounds of material collected at Taste
  • The Cincinnati chapter of the Red Cross collected $2,000 at Taste for Oklahoma relief efforts
  • More than 85,000 16 oz. cups of beer were sold, enough to fill a large backyard swimming pool
  • More than 2,000,000 forks were used