Tacos y Tamales Festival

The music and the rest of the program

Programming typically includes folklórico dancers, banda and regional Mexican acts, plus family activities and lucha-style entertainment that pull the crowd away from the food lines for stretches of the afternoon.

That matters practically: watch the stage schedule and hit the busiest food stalls while a headline set is running. It is the single most reliable way to skip a twenty-minute line at a festival like this.

A short tamale primer

Masa steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf, filled with pork in red chile, chicken in salsa verde, rajas with cheese, or sweet versions with pineapple or strawberry. Regional styles vary enormously — Oaxacan tamales in banana leaf are denser and larger than the husk-wrapped Central Mexican style.

In Chicago, tamales are also a working economy. Family operations sell them by the dozen out of home kitchens, at church halls and from carts near the L, and a festival is one of the few times those makers get a public storefront.

Buy by the dozen if you find one you like. They freeze and reheat better than almost any other festival food.

What the festival is

The Tacos y Tamales Festival gathers taquerias, tamale makers, aguas frescas vendors and Mexican-American restaurants for an outdoor weekend of food, live music, folklórico and lucha libre-style entertainment.

It is a food festival where the food is the actual draw rather than a backdrop. Vendors range from established neighborhood taquerias to family tamale operations that normally sell out of a cooler or a storefront window.

Chicago's Mexican food history

Mexican communities have been part of Chicago since the early twentieth century, drawn first by railroad, steel and packinghouse work. Pilsen and Little Village became the cultural centers, and the city now has one of the largest Mexican-American populations in the country.

The tamale in particular has a strange, deep Chicago history — the Chicago-style hot tamale sold from street carts and hot dog stands is its own local variant, distinct from what the festival's family vendors make.

How to eat it

Tacos are small and cheap enough to sample widely; tamales are filling and should be rationed. The strategy that works is tacos across many vendors first, then one or two tamales at the end.

Look for the stalls with the longest line of Spanish-speaking customers rather than the biggest banner. At this festival that heuristic is reliable.

• Bring cash — the smallest and best vendors are cash-first
• Sample across stalls; single-vendor commitment is a mistake here
• Aguas frescas over soda, especially in the afternoon heat
• Salsa heat varies wildly by stand; ask before you pour

Getting there

Location and dates for this festival have shifted between years, so check the organizer's current listing for the address, hours and admission before you go.

If the site is in Pilsen or Little Village, the Pink Line and the 18th Street and Cermak corridors are the natural approach; parking in either neighborhood on a festival weekend is difficult.

Extend the trip

Pilsen's 18th Street has the National Museum of Mexican Art — free admission, one of the best collections of Mexican art in the country — plus murals, bakeries and galleries within a few blocks.

Little Village's 26th Street is one of the highest-grossing retail corridors in Chicago and is worth a walk for the bakeries and carnicerías alone.

More Chicago food festivals

The summer calendar runs deep: Taste of Chicago, Taste of Randolph, Taste of River North, the Italian Beef Fest, Windy City Smokeout and the neighborhood fests in Pilsen and Little Village.

Eventchaser lists them all on our food and drink page.