What the Truck?! Edmonton’s Food Truck Extravaganza

I love street food. When Sharon and I were in San Francisco last year, it was the burrito from the San Buena Taco Truck that I enjoyed most. And we both loved stumbling upon Off the Grid, a food truck festival. When I was in London earlier this year I made a special trip just to visit Daddy Donkey, an extremely popular burrito truck. And back at home here in Edmonton, no trip to the City Market is complete without a stop at one of our food trucks, such as Eva Sweet for a delicious waffle. Food trucks are not only a great source of tasty eats, they also encourage activity on the street. There’s a lot to love about food trucks and carts!

For these reasons and more, Sharon and I began thinking about having a food truck festival here in Edmonton. And today, we’re happy to announce that it’s happening!

What the Truck?!
Friday, June 24, 2011 from 4pm to 8pm
Beaver Hills House Park, 105 Street & Jasper Avenue

What the Truck?! is a celebration of Edmonton’s food trucks, combining street food with pedestrianism and downtown vibrancy. Join us for eats and beats in the heart of the city.

We’re so excited for this event, and we hope that you’ll come out to help make it a success! There is no admission fee – just show up and enjoy some excellent food from our seven vendors. If you’re planning to come, please RSVP on Facebook to give us a better sense of numbers. The event will also feature the musical stylings of the Urban Monks DJs, Marc Carnes and Thomas Scott. Shout out to Gabe Wong for designing an awesome logo for us!

The work we’ve done to make What the Truck?! a reality has been educational, to say the least. One of the reasons I wanted to make this event happen was that I think it’s a good example of a little thing that can help to revitalize downtown. With that in mind, we originally planned to hold it in an empty parking lot (we tried a couple different ones). It turns out that isn’t as simple as you might think (if you go the ask-for-permission route, that is). We’ve also learned quite a bit about the City’s Street Vending Program. Let’s just say there’s room for improvement. I think there’s a lot we could do to help the local food truck scene grow and prosper!

I’ll be writing more over the next couple of weeks about the journey, what we learned along the way, and where we can potentially improve things. In the meantime, I hope you’re as excited as I am for What the Truck?!

See you there!