Taste of Tacoma 2016

June 24-26, 2016

Ah, yes... it's food festival season again. One of my favorite times of year! This summer in particular promises to be filled with many of these gatherings, both large and small. Kicking off the festivities is the Taste of Tacoma, held in Point Defiance Park. For one reason or another we hadn't gone in several years, but the stars seemed to align today and we made the pilgrimage to the local food mecca. Being a Friday with somewhat cool weather, the crowds were light and there were virtually no lines. 

The best piece of advice I can give you for going here on ANY day is to use the shuttle service from Tacoma Community College on S. 19th and Mildred. There is almost no parking near the venue, and the shuttles leave every few minutes. We didn't have to wait at all on the trips either way. It's about a 15 minute ride each way, but it saves you all the time, gas, and frustration of trying to find parking anywhere even near the park... and it's free!!

The first food stall you're likely to hit is New Orleans Cookery. All of the smells coming out of there were enticing, but I had to go with my Taste of Tacoma favorite... Alligator on a Stick. Even at $10.00 a pop, it definitely did not disappoint! I've had alligator in my travels to South Carolina and Georgia, and this was right up there with them. 

From there, we just wandered from stall to stall, stopping at whatever sounded good.

Oh yes we did... with only a little regret... maybe.

After all that, we needed a bit of a break, so we wandered down to the Bowl Stage to listen to a U2 cover band called U253. Our area code is 253. See what they did there? Just to the side of the stage is a strategically placed beer garden, serving... could it be?... somewhat reasonably priced beers! We each had a Goose IPA by Goose Island Brewing Co. while watching the band.

After that, we decided it was time to head home, but one more thing caught our attention on the way out...

Who can resist freshly-dipped chocolate covered strawberries... ON A STICK?? We couldn't.

So, if you're wandering around Tacoma this weekend with nothing better to do, head on down to The Point and get some interesting food in your face.

For more information, visit the event website-

TASTE OF TACOMA