Taste of Bloomington is Back for 2026 with Over 70 Vendors

Returning to Kirkwood Ave. on Saturday, August 1st, the annual Taste of Bloomington festival will offer cuisines and beverages from over 75 local breweries, wineries, food trucks, and Hoosier favorite restaurants for an unrivaled food experience. With free admission and an array of bites for $5 or less, Bloomington extends an invitation to celebrate the tastes of southern Indiana alongside art and live music from local performers for a day well-spent in the Midwest.

Following a brief hiatus in 2019, the revival of Taste of Bloomington in 2025 welcomed an all-time total of 20,000 attendees, and with an abundance of new food and drink vendors ahead of this year’s festival, the upcoming event is guaranteed to surpass its former celebrations. 

However, before its return last year, Taste of Bloomington was an integral piece of southern Indiana communities dating back to the ‘80s.

“Taste of Bloomington started in the 1980s and was already a really successful event,” Taste of Bloomington Organizer Jordan Davis said. “The last one they hosted, before I took over, was in 2019 where they had 10,000 attendees, 30-something food vendors, and two stages of live music—it was great, but they had to pay for a ticket to get in. Then the pandemic happened and it fell through, so when I approached them, they basically said ‘you have our blessing’ and we were able to bring it back last year for the first time since 2019.”

Initiated by Davis in his endeavor to bring the beloved festival back, the reduced cost of $5 or less for every menu item throughout the event was developed to encourage attendees to taste as many flavors spread along Kirkwood from the Sample Gates at IU to the Monroe County Courthouse.

“Last year was my first year organizing [Taste of Bloomington], and that was one of the main things I had changed,” Davis said. “This should be a taste. You should be able to try a ton of stuff before you get full or spend a ton of money, so we implemented that last year and we’re gonna keep it going for as long as we can, where every single food item from all 75 food vendors is five bucks or less.”

Vital to the fundamentals of Taste of Bloomington, this year’s festival leans even further into the local food, alcohol, and music scene than any year before, turning Hoosiers toward providing support within their community.

The Food and Drink Lineup

“As far as the food goes, people know BuffaLouie’s as having some of the best wings in the state—in the country, even, and we have Mother Bear’s Pizza, which is super famous, and Uptown Cafe, which is consistently mentioned as the best restaurant in Bloomington,” Davis said. “With 75 vendors it’s hard to narrow it down, but as far as alcohol goes, we have Upland Brewing, Bloomington Brewing, Oliver Winery, Butler Winery, and then for the music, the main headliner on the main stage is the band called ‘The Main Squeeze’ that formed in Bloomington in 2010.”

Along Kirkwood, Uptown Cafe, Everbowl, FARMbloomington, Hartzell’s Icecream, Kirkwood Sweet Shop, Osteria Rago and others will have their doors open as participating brick and mortars for the event.

For food trucks, Doner Kebab, Pili’s Party Tacos, Pierogi Place, and over 20 others set the scene, and along the street, countless booths will serve up local favorites like Aver’s Pizza, Baked!, Bloomington Chocolate Company, Jenny’s Baking Company, Mother Bear’s Pizza, Pizza X, Social Cantina, Taste of India, to name a few.

Taste of Bloomington is set to run from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. with all food and drink vendors available and the first live performance kicking off at three, and in the off chance unsavory weather makes an appearance, the following day, Sunday, August 2nd, is fixed as the rescheduled festival date.  Learn more and plan your trip at tasteofbloomington.com.