John Trick

THIS MUCH I KNOW | HEAD OF OPERATIONS, MAYOR'S OFFICE OF SPECIAL EVENTS

I've been overseeing Taste of Chicago for 19 years. I'm the question-and-answer man. On a busy day, I'll get a radio call every one to two minutes. I'm not a one-man team. All 75 people from our office play a role. We operate a small city down here for the 10 days.

I probably walk five to six miles a day, walking up and down the Taste.

Once in a while, a person will drop their camera or their cell phone in the portable toilets. We'll call the toilet company. They've got real long rubber gloves, and they've reached down and fished it out for people. I have never done that personally -- and I never intend to.

I usually eat at the Taste. I like the basics foods. I'm kind of a purist, a meat-and-potatoes guy. I like the pizza. And I always grab some ribs from Robinson's or the Fireplace Inn. I'm not a lamb-eating person. I did try the alligator. Last night, I had Rainbow Cone ice cream for dinner -- their strawberry parfait. I got to get up a little courage and try the shark this year.

Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana were probably the top one and two crowds we've had for concerts that I can remember. I've met quite a few musicians. When you're dealing with them, you can't be starstruck because the main goal is to get them in and have them put on the best concert possible for everyone to enjoy, and then to get them and the public out safely.

I do all the announcements that you hear over the PA at the Taste. Lost children, weather alerts, specials. That's me.

When Kathy Osterman was an alderman, I was on her aldermanic staff. And when the mayor was elected, he brought her on as the director of special events, and she brought me with.

If you're throwing a party, always maintain garbage during the event. What happens then by early evening if you're not maintaining it, you're going to have mounds of garbage, and it just doesn't look good.

We always have people out cleaning the grounds and the tables and emptying garbage cans. And then, overnight, they come in and do the heavy cleaning and power-wash the streets throughout Grant Park. The 3rd of July is a big one garbage-wise. You walk down the street after the park closes on the 3rd, and your eyes are like, "Wow."

It's hard to distinguish between people from suburbs and the city at the Taste. But you can sometimes tell if they live further out west. It was a little cool down here Monday. I had a jacket on and long pants. You knew people came in from the western suburbs because they had shorts and T-shirts on. You can tell when they don't live along the lake. They don't know that when you pick up that northeastern wind, it's much cooler down here.

The best spot to watch the fireworks within the Taste is Butler Field, Buckingham Fountain plaza and the sidewalk just east of Buckingham Fountain. By the crack of dawn, you'll see them from Randolph to the Museum Campus, putting out their blankets. Usually, I'm watching them standing on Congress just west of Columbus. That's my spot.