[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]

The results are in, and according to the Sun-Times this year's Taste of Chicago drew 1.2 million people, which constitutes a nearly 50 percent drop from 2011. Of course, considering the festival only ran for half the time (five days instead of ten) that's not such a bad figure. As Grub Street Chicago rightly pointed out, the break in 100-degree days certainly helped out, even if it did rain on Friday and Saturday. Personally, I found the smaller event much easier to navigate, even if I did miss some of the vendors from last year. But even with the smaller pool of options, a group of us still found a decent selection of dishes to sample.

But what do you think? Did the shorter running time prevent you from making it down to Grant Park? Did you even care about Taste this year? Any suggestions for the future? Let us know!