Credits
Morton is credited as the brains behind the "Taste of Chicago", one of the city's best-loved summer festivals. He got the idea when he went to a similar event in New York in the late 1970s. Thinking that Chicago could do much better, he lined up restaurants to participate and persuaded then Mayor Jane Byrne to block off Michigan Avenue for the first Taste of Chicago on July 4, 1980, planting the seed for this food festival. Of the 100,000 people the organizers expected, more than 250,000 showed up, with food and soda sales grossing $300,000. Since then, the festival has evolved and has been done every year during the Fourth of July celebrations.
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