Get ready to sample some of the best local flavors in the Quad Cities as Mercado on Fifth hosts its third-annual El Sabor del Mercado (Taste of Mercado) competition this Friday, July 24, during the weekly Mercado night market, on Moline’s Fifth Avenue west of 12th Street.
Presented by Modern Woodmen of America, Taste of Mercado is one of the summer's favorite traditions, inviting guests to taste their way through Mercado's outstanding food vendors while supporting locally-owned small businesses. It’s one of the ways the Moline-based nonprofit spotlights the region’s Hispanic culture.
Guests ages 13 and older can purchase a voting card for an additional $5 at any entry gate ($10 total admission) that includes one sample from each participating food vendor. After visiting every competitor and marking off their card from each booth, attendees will receive a QR Code to cast their votes online for:
● Best Salsa
● Best Entrée
● Best Beverage
● Best Side/Snack
● El Sabor del Mercado (Overall People's Choice Winner)
The voting process is outlined on Mercado's official bilingual voting card for the event. Winners will receive a trophy and cash prizes.
Meet the 2026 Taste of Mercado competitors
Mercado on Fifth is proud to showcase these incredible local entrepreneurs, 20 of whom will be part of the competition, said Mercado executive director Frances Williams. They encourage everyone to follow their businesses online and continue supporting them throughout the year.
The vendors in this Friday’s Taste of Mercado (click to check out their Facebook pages) are:
- Las Salsas Doña Mary
- The Back-Yard
- Xochimilko
- Los Crazy Snax
- Oasis de Sabores
- Quesa-Broso
- Mendoza Street Dogs
- Mi Oaxaca
- Miguel's Street Tacos
- The Main Squeeze Trailer
- Luna Kitchen
- Abarrotes Carrillo
- Frio Sauce
- Aguas Frescas Camila
- Tongue Teazers Freeze Dried Treats
- Sister Sweets QC
- Taquizas Los Jarochos
- Mia’s Lemonade
- Arely’s Food Truck
- Las Delicias Food and Desserts
Sample your way through Mercado
This year's competitors represent a wide variety of cuisines and culinary traditions, including:
● Authentic Mexican street tacos
● Homemade birria
● Latino/Filipino-inspired fusion cuisine
● Bacon-wrapped street dogs
● Fresh aguas frescas
● Fresh-squeezed lemonade
● Churros
● Mini pancakes
● Gourmet snacks
● Mexican street corn
● Energy drinks and coffee
● Freeze-dried treats
● Homemade salsas
● Fresh desserts
Whether you're craving savory, sweet, spicy, or refreshing, Taste of Mercado offers something for everyone.
Special hot dogs
Vanessa Alvarado, owner of Mendoza Street Dogs, specializes in bacon-wrapped dogs, with many toppings, and fresh-squeezed lemonade. She’s in her second year at Mercado and is entering the best drink category.
“Hot dogs in Latin America are huge,” Williams said Wednesday, July 22. “Whether it be in Mexico City or even in Bogotá, Colombia, I mean almost every major city that I went to in Latin America prior to COVID, they were all doing like these incredible hot dogs with all these amazing toppings, like whether it be like mango salsas or pineapple.
“Vanessa does an amazing elote, which is the Mexican corn hot dog,” she added. “That one I have to say I would say is probably my favorite. It has just the right amount of spice and sweetness from the corn to then mix with the hot dog. And Vanessa's really generous with her hot dogs. Like, they're not your Oscar Mayer wieners. they're massive, and they're all bacon-wrapped to start with.”
Alvarado likes Mercado for being able to showcase her food alongside other vendors and to connect with the community. She also has a third-shift regular job, and is getting ready to open a combination flower shop and hair salon in East Moline, which also will have kitchen.
“It gives the Hispanic community opportunities to show their flavors and their food and to share it with the world,” Alvarado said.
"I don't look at it as a competition," she said of Friday's event. "I just look at it as an opportunity for everybody to be able to succeed and follow their dream."
After Mi Oaxaca won overall Taste of Mercado last year, they opened their permanent restaurant at 637 1st St., Silvis.
Sheila Rivera of Moline co-owns Sister Sweets with her mother Guadalupe, and it’s named that because people think they are sisters. They specialize in strawberry and creamy cups, and desserts made from sago pearls -- small, chewy spheres made from starch extracted from the pith of tropical palm trees – with boba, jelly, and coconut.
Rivera started the business, her first year at Mercado, after their home was damaged by fire in 2025. “I just needed something to distract myself. And obviously to help us with the money,” she said Wednesday, noting her mother was later able to rebuild the home.
“I come from a family of bakers, my aunt especially,” Rivera (who also does makeup for people out of her home) said. “I'm really close with one of my aunts and she bakes cakes and she does like personalized Jell-Os with pictures in them and stuff. So I would always help her and it just stuck.”
23 food vendors at Mercado
Another new vendor this year is Luna Kitchen, which is fusion – since the husband is Hispanic and the wife is Filipino, Williams said. “They combine the two types of cuisines. So for example, they have an orange chicken burrito which has gotten really high marks from a lot of people. And then they have this amazing orange cauliflower rice dish that is out of this world.”
Out of 40 total Mercado vendors this year (including retail, non-food), about one-third are new to Mercado, and there are 23 total food/drink vendors.
“In order to accommodate, because we have limited space down in Mercado, we do have a few spaces that are rotating week to week,” Williams said. “We had at the beginning of the season, like, Coya's Cafe switching with El Mariachi because they didn't want to be there each week. There are challenges with workforce right now. So, having to staff if you've got a brick and mortar and you've got a food truck, having to staff both on the same night can be sometimes a stretch.”
“I still remember growing up here in Moline and not having a place like Mercado and feeling very disconnected from my community, not really having a place like Mercado to celebrate their culture,” she added.
“Now we do have a place where all of us can come together and celebrate it, whether it be through the food, through the music, through performances,” Williams (who is of Colombian descent and fluent in Spanish) said.
“What I love as much as that, when I see people that come to Mercado because they are longing for that sense of connection and community. You know, I think we all feel, and it's talked about a lot, how globally a lot of people feel isolated, they feel lonely,” she said. “You don't feel like that in Mercado.
“One of the biggest challenges that I see is, how do we just make people know that they're welcome? You don't have to be Hispanic to come to Mercado, but if you connect with that, if you like the music, if you just want a different night out and different experiences, come check us out,” Williams added.
“And the Taste of Mercado is a really great event to do that because then you've got one night. I don't know where else in the Quad Cities that for, in total, if you wanted on Friday night to do the Taste of Mercado, it's $10. There aren't very many places where you can buy a plate of food for $10 anymore. And you get to try every single one of the competitors' food.”
Bigger crowds for Taste
The Taste of Mercado also helps boost the market’s attendance. Usually, the Friday night event (which goes from May through end of October) attracts 1,500 to 2,000 people; the first Taste drew 2,415 and last year saw 1,928, Williams said.
The federal crackdown on immigrants has affected Mercado attendance, since some people are afraid to go out in public, she noted. The economy also has been a challenge, and last year’s Taste of Mercado was between two rain-out dates.
Taste of Mercado is more than a friendly competition—it's a celebration of entrepreneurship. Each participating vendor represents a local entrepreneur who has invested countless hours building their business, perfecting recipes, and sharing their culture with the Quad Cities community, Williams said.
“One of Mercado on Fifth's greatest strengths is helping entrepreneurs build loyal customers,” she said. “Taste of Mercado gives thousands of visitors the opportunity to discover new favorite businesses, and every vote helps shine a spotlight on these incredible local entrepreneurs.”
This season (the 10th anniversary of Mercado), they are going right through the Day of the Dead celebration on the weekend of Oct. 31. The last Mercado will not be Friday, but on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., including a big Dia de los Muertos event.
“We did that intentionally because we wanted to celebrate it prior to the November 1st and 2nd, which are traditionally the biggest days of that celebration,” Williams said. “The celebration is like an entire week. So we're hoping that families will take advantage, especially those that have little ones, to come and show them that tradition.”
“One of the things that I really love about Mercado, and we do encourage like the vendors to do, is to experiment while they're there,” she added. “And they can experiment week to week. So whether it be Vanessa, if you wanted to say change it up and do like, I don't know, a hot dog with like grilled jalapeños.”
“The same thing with Sheila, if there's another type of like sweets, desserts that's coming up and becoming really popular, you have the freedom to be able to do that,” Williams said. “All they're doing is with us, from my perspective, it's they're renting a space. So within that space, that's now their business and they're able to make the decisions of their business and see how the public reacts to it.”
Taste of Mercado will run 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the votes are tabulated with winners announced at 8 p.m., before live music starts, and will go to 10 p.m.
For more information on Mercado, click HERE.
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