Taste of Coeur d’Alene returns for 38th year at City Park
Taste of Coeur d’Alene filled City Park again, putting Panhandle Kiwanis, local vendors and downtown businesses in front of summer crowds for the festival’s 38th year.
Taste of Coeur d’Alene once again pushed summer foot traffic toward Coeur d’Alene City Park, where the festival marked its 38th year and put local vendors, sponsors and downtown businesses in the middle of the season’s biggest crowds. The main event ran Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at City Park on the shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene, with festival listings also placing the weekend across July 31 through Aug. 2.
Panhandle Kiwanis tied the event to its fundraising work and said it was planning the 2026 Taste with vendors, city government, the Coeur d’Alene parks department and sponsors. The group said updated 2026 guidelines and rules were still to come, and a Facebook listing described the Taste as a yearly fundraiser sponsored by Panhandle Kiwanis. That mix of nonprofit organizing and city coordination has helped keep the festival anchored in one of the most visible public spaces in North Idaho.
The location is part of the economic payoff. City Park sits at the edge of the lake and close to downtown, which gives food sellers, crafts vendors and other small businesses access to people already spending a summer day in the city center. A 2021 search result about the Taste described regional food vendors, art, crafts and live music filling City Park, a sign that the event has long worked as both a community gathering and a sales floor for local makers and merchants.
The festival’s scale has made it one of the region’s better-known summer draws. A July 2016 Coeur d’Alene Press search result said more than 30,000 people were expected to blanket downtown Coeur d’Alene for a related summer weekend event. Visit Coeur d’Alene also places the Taste among the Inland Northwest’s favorite festivals, a status reinforced by its long run and repeat presence on the summer calendar.
For Coeur d’Alene, the payoff goes beyond plates and tickets. The Taste keeps visitors moving between City Park, downtown and the lakefront, giving nearby businesses a weekend of steady traffic and giving Panhandle Kiwanis a public platform for its annual fundraiser. In a city where summer events shape the pace of downtown, the Taste remains one of the clearest examples of a festival that doubles as a business engine.
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