PHOTO BY CARMEN TROESSER
Robert Green, founder/CEO of the Saint Louis African American Artifacts Festival and Bazaar, which is hosting the Taste of North St. Louis
This Saturday marks the inaugural Taste of North St. Louis, a festival of food vendors, artisans, music, dance and more.
From 1–7 p.m., head to Crown Square Plaza to enjoy samples from dozens of restaurants, food trucks, caterers, bakers, and more. (Admission is free, though expect to pay for food and drinks.) The idea: to bring people to the neighborhood to experience its culture and vibe, with food serving as the universal invitation.
The event is the latest offering from the Saint Louis African American Artifacts Festival and Bazaar, the nonprofit responsible for last month’s Juneteenth Free Dome Celebration and the upcoming Saint Louis African American Artifacts Festival and Unity Festival and Market.
Historian, collector, and curator Robert Green is the impresario behind the eight-year-old organization. All of the festivals follow a mission of sharing history and culture. Taste of North St. Louis is a way of sharing what’s unique and beautiful about the neighborhood, says Green: “Taste of North St. Louis—it’s a cultural taste. You come over to experience our culture, our businesses, our stores.”
ChezAlistl will serve up Afro Caribbean cuisine, for example, while Pretty Pop Gourmet Popcorn will offer sweet and savory popcorn options. The food vendors—about 30 in all—encompass a range of flavors and will come from across the region, not just North St. Louis. “Crown Candy is a pillar of the community, but the food vendors are coming from different places,” says Green, who says visitors should expect “a multitude of different flavors. It’s a really unique taste of culture that you experience when you come to North St. Louis.”
