When the Taste of Minnesota returns to downtown Minneapolis right after the Fourth of July, the free two-day event celebrating local flavors, arts and businesses will have a bigger footprint on Nicollet Mall, allowing it to include more than twice as many food vendors as last summer.

This year’s Taste of Minnesota will be held July 6-7 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to a Tuesday announcement.

Taste of Minnesota is looking for food vendors, artists, entertainers, and corporate sponsors that want to be involved. Applications can be found here.

Celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern has already signed on as Taste of Minnesota’s food ambassador for another year. As such, he will select four or five “chef-driven, higher-level food options” to partake in the event, the announcement said.

An aerial shot of last year's event at Nicollet Avenue and South Third Street. Photo courtesy of Taste of Minnesota

All in all, there’s room for 60 food vendors this year thanks to the festival’s expanded footprint, compared to 23 food vendors last year.

Organizers plan to share more information, including the exact location, about Taste of Minnesota 2024 in the coming weeks.

Taste of Minnesota 2023 happened July 2-3 on a three-block stretch of Nicollet Mall between Washington Avenue and Fifth Street. It marked the return of the festival after an eight-year hiatus.

For more than 20 years, the Taste of Minnesota took place in St. Paul, and then it folded in 2015 after moving to Waconia.

Minneapolis stakeholders led the effort to bring back the event in 2023, with help from a host of community partners, including organizers Minnesota Festivals and Dispatch MSP.

An estimated 100,000 people attended the Taste of Minnesota last summer, despite sweltering heat and near thunderstorms. Third Eye Blind, Big Boi and Uncle Kracker were the musical headliners.