The Bite of Seattle is an annual food festival held in Seattle, Washington. It takes place at the Seattle Center. Locally, the festival is known as "The Bite". It is held on one weekend during the month of July, and is considered to be one of Seattle's largest food and beverage events with over 200 participating vendors.[1] In 2023, the festival was held on the weekend of July 21-23, 2023.
| Bite of Seattle | |
|---|---|
 Crowds at the 2008 Bite of Seattle event | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Food festival |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Years active | 1982–2019, 2023– |
| Next event | July 19-21, 2024 |
| Attendance | 400,000 |
| Website | biteofseattle |
History
edit
Back in July 1982, Alan Silverman, the president of Festivals, Inc., founded the festival which was originally held at Green Lake Park.[2] Initially, it was expected that roughly 25,000 people would attend, but there were 25 restaurants participating and 75,000 people in attendance. In 2006 there were 60 restaurants and food vendors participating and over 425,000 visitors.[3]
Throughout the rest of the years, the number of visitors averaged out to about 400,000 people over the course of the three day long festival with over 60 restaurants participating.[citation needed]
The 2020 Bite of Seattle and Taste of Tacoma were both cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] In 2023, CHEQ a mobile payments platform company brought the Bite of Seattle back after two years of hiatus. The 2023 event was panned by attendees due to poor functionality of the CHEQ app.[5][6]
Attractions
editThe Bite offers many attractions, including food sampling from local restaurants, food cook-off competitions, eating competitions, new foods and vendors, commercial vendors, traveling tours, child-friendly activities and local chefs showcasing their cooking. There are also many activities and entertainment options unrelated to food, which include live entertainment, stage performances, a free movie night, craft beer & cider tasting, and beer gardens.
Bite of Seattle hosts over 80 live bands that play on stage, primarily local and regional artists. These performances are usually held at one of the three main stages: either the Fountain Lawn Stage,[7] the Mural Stage,[8] or the Fisher Green Stage.[9]
References
edit- ^ "Feast your eyes on what the Bite of Seattle has to offer this weekend". The Seattle Times. 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
- ^ "What to Expect?". Albert Lee Appliance Bite of Seattle. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
- ^ Broom, Jack (July 19, 2006). "Even after 25 years, Bite of Seattle still delicious". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
- ^ Sherred, Kristine (July 1, 2020). "Another blow to summer as COVID-19 forces cancellation of Tacoma's favorite food festival". The News Tribune. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- ^ Bek, Nate (July 22, 2023). "Bite of Seattle attendees fed up with food ordering app from tech startup". Geekwire. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
- ^ Torres, Nikki (July 28, 2023). "Bite of Seattle payment system frustrates customers, businesses". Fox13 News Seattle. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
- ^ "Fountain Lawn Stage". Albert Lee Appliance Bite of Seattle. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
- ^ "Mural Stage". Albert Lee Appliance Bite of Seattle. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
- ^ "Fisher Green Stage". Bite of Seattle. Retrieved 2020-02-09.