Bigger and Better Than Ever: Compass Magazine's Food & Music Festival doubles in size and finds a new home.

By Douglas Habecker　Translated by Ann Lee

You know an event is popular when people start inquiring about it months before it takes place. Such as been the case--once again--with one of Central Taiwan's leading annual international events, the Compass Taichung International Food & Music Festival, taking place this year on Saturday, May 24 (from 10:30 am-9 pm). With Compass Magazine organizing the Festival for the fifth time, this particular year promises to reward the eager anticipation with an event of unprecedented size and scope, not to mention an outstanding new location.

Held previous years within the somewhat limited confines of Sogo Department Store's outdoor plaza, the 2008 Festival will take place on one of Taichung city's most popular and attractive venues, the Art Museum Parkway. Renovated in the past couple years, the Parkway is an attractive green belt, bordered by WuQuan West 3rd and 4th streets, and starts opposite the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts' main entrance plaza (see the pull-out Parkway map in this magazine). In addition to the beautifully landscaped grassy areas and sidewalks, the Parkway's main attraction is the eclectic mix of dozens of creatively-decorated restaurants, cafes, art galleries and other establishments that can be found here--a truly unique destination that draws thousands of residents and visitors every week. The Festival's main area will be in the heart of the Parkway, between WuQuan 5th and 7th streets, where most of its restaurants and cafes can be found.

Thanks to the much larger and greener venue, the Compass Taichung International Food & Music Festival has literally doubled in size this year, with about 50 vendor booths. The main purpose of these booths is to showcase Taichung's broad diversity of international cuisine and allow participants to enjoy it to their heart's delight. This includes city restaurants, hotels, pubs and cafes selling German, Italian, Greek, Taiwan, American, Mexican, Spanish, Cantonese, Argentine and French food and drinks. The sheer variety of foods and drinks is too much to list here, but will include pastas, pizzas, American-style breakfasts, all kinds of sausages, desserts and pastries, regular and submarine sandwiches, Cantonese dim sum, beef ribs, BBQ chicken, pork chops, steaks, meat rolls, Spanish paella, steak wraps, cheese steaks, coffees, teas, cocktails, juices and sodas. A beer tent run by Official Beer Sponsor Le Ble d'or will once again serve up craft-brewed beers to help festival-goers quench their summer thirst throughout the day. Buy two beers at the Festival and Le Ble d'or will also give you another free one at their new GongYi Road branch, opening the same day.

In another first at this year's event, there will also be a wide range of non-food/drink booths run by Parkway businesses, particularly art galleries, but also including various shops, a spa, veterinary hospital and even a real estate broker. See the following vendor listings for more details.

While people love to eat and drink, what really keeps them at the Compass Festival for most of the day and evening is the outstanding live music that continues nonstop from the event's beginning at 10:30 a.m. until its close at 9 p.m. Thanks once again to event music coordinator Patrick Byrne's expertise and hard work, the festival showcases 11 of Taichung's top bands and musicians, performing an unrivalled mix of light and hard rock, jazz, blues, country and western, funk and other styles. This year's line-up features popular returning acts and brand-new ones, including Round Midnight, 3 Day Bender, The Rising Hedons, Dirty Skies, Moss, Semicon, Militant Hippi, B.B. Bomb, Chrome Relic, .22, and The Money Shot Horns (see Festival Schedule below). This is one day of live music that shouldn't be missed.

All this is being made possible by Compass Magazine and its main co-sponsors, the Art Museum Parkway Committee, Columbia Consulting Company, Le Ble d'or, and Coca-Cola, with the support of the media sponsor Sunny FM 89.1 and the Taichung City Government Department of Economic Development.
With preparations well under way, all that remains is for participants, residents and out-of-towners alike, to set May 24 aside on their calendars and prepare for the biggest, best and most interesting Compass Taichung International Food & Music Festival ever!

Festival Vendors: Amani Wedding Dress & Photography Co., Banquet Restaurant, Barlin Art Painting Studio, Carnation American Furniture, Chun-Dao Pottery & Tea Art Collection, Columbia Consulting Company, Concession Music Restaurant, COSMED, December Bar, 8C Cafe Art Center, Esslingen German Home Food Shop, Frog Pubs, He-Qing Aloeswood Incense & Raw Materials/Pu-Erh Tea, In Casa Cafe & Restaurant, Jessica Studio, La Bodega, Lan.S. Studio, Le Ble d'or Beer, Lian Yu Fang, Mona Lisa Pub, National Veterinary Hospital, A New Vision of Mind & Spirit, Oldies Frank's Hot Dogs, Oolong Tea, Pizza Buena, PJ's Cafe, Royal Sun Young Co. Ltd., Salut Pizza, Santorini, Shigure Moisture Fashion, Shine-Long Chinese Medicines Food, Shui Pi Tzu Children's Art Studio, Sinyi Real Estate, Splendor Hotel, Taichung AmCham Kidz Charity Committee/Our House, Thai Spa, Wine Club, Yamani Cafe.

Compass Magazine is required by law to remind you not to drink and drive.