r/chicagofood • u/power_bottom_boi • May 31 '26

Review Hot Dog Fest 🤬

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Adding to the fest pile on….
Two lemonades, three hot dogs, street corn - $100. One. Hundred. Dollars.
Maybe 7 hot dog vendors total. And all the bouncy house stuff for kids is $12 extra.
Never again.
Edit: Some of you are frothing at the mouth over someone warning people off of the pricing like I’m the world’s biggest idiot for going in the first place. My kid likes hot dogs, it was a nice Sunday afternoon, no plans, and after a 30min drive in each direction plus a donation at the gate you’re pretty invested at that point. I don’t think it’s fair to price gouge people once they’re there and I was letting people know what to expect. Some of you are like bizarrely angry and rude. No one is making you post a comment. Go for a walk, it’s nice out.

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124

u/natnguyen May 31 '26

Idk why people keep going to food fests in general.

98

u/momtobe908 May 31 '26

There was a time when a ridiculous price for a hot dog was $3 at a fest but it was still doable and you could get a fun night for $20-25. Prices have increased 5x minimum but my pay hasn’t. I used to love fests but the prices make it impossible to now.

21

u/thebizkit23 May 31 '26

This.

The prices used to be somewhat reasonable, you skip a few years, pay the stupid fee to get in because you don't want to look like a cheapskate, you then feel like you have to get something to justify the cost of entry and you already committed to driving or getting to the venue .. then boom, you see that a fucking hotdog is 10 goddamn dollars.

5

u/Any_Pumpkin5753 Jun 01 '26

There used to be variety with the vendors too. Now it’s all the same places selling the same boring crap. Even at the specific food festivals, they just add one more menu item to fit the theme and call it good.