Clayton approves Taste of St. Louis event, organizers discuss move from Downtown

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - The Taste of St. Louis is proposing a move to Clayton. The Clayton Board of Alderman approved the event in the city on Tuesday but still has final agreements to work out with organizers.

“Downtown St. Louis just presents a lot of different problems, but I also feel like the City could really help and they could foster some of that behavior by you know making it easier for events but instead everybody sort of has their hand out,” said Chuck Justus, Co-Director of Taste of St. Louis.

Justus says he wants to keep the festival downtown but it’s been challenging. The festival has been going on for more than 30 years, it started downtown, moved to Chesterfield, and returned downtown to Ballpark Village in 2019. Now, Clayton appears to be the new campsite.

“We were approached by the Taste of St. Louis just a few weeks back and the Board of Alderman basically consented to the event being here. At this point, we have to put together a formal agreement that lays out expectations for both parties,” said Clayton City Manager David Gipson.

Gipson said there’s definitely excitement over this get.

“We already have a really successful art fair that brings in about 150,000 people every year and we have a jazz festival, we have a wine and music festival every year. So, the Taste of St. Louis really aligns well with what we do here and the layout of our streets with our restaurants, makes it a really good fit,” said Gipson.

The St. Louis Mayor’s Spokesman tells First Alert 4 in a statement: “We have loved having Taste of St. Louis since it returned in 2019 from its latest suburban adventure in Chesterfield. We wish the organizers all the best. The City of St. Louis will always be happy to have them back again.”

But yet, Justus says he hasn’t felt very welcomed by the city.

“I would love to be back, that would make a lot of sense but I can’t and as of right now, I don’t see any reason why. There’s no place to put a Taste of St. Louis, Ballpark Village has been great but we can’t sell drinks there and that’s a big source of revenue for an event, you can’t take any sponsorship from any of the beer companies, alcohol companies,” said Justus.

Downtown Alderman Rasheen Aldridge says it is a loss but Downtown is still on the upswing.

“There’s a lot of good traction happening, I guess you don’t win them all but if I was in a position where I could have advocated to keep them down here, I would have because it is another positive benefit that brings diverse people to an area where we need people to come back,” said Alderman Aldridge.

Justus also said that the move has absolutely nothing to do with security issues in Downtown, it’s just not a feasible option at this time.

City Manager Gipson says this will go in front of the Clayton Board of Aldermen for final approval at a meeting in March.

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