I love travelling for many reasons – the escape, the exposure, the experiences. But sometimes, what we encounter can become the inspiration for events back home.
While we were in San Francisco in the fall, Mack and I stumbled upon Off the Grid, a happening gathering of food trucks at Fort Mason. It really felt like fate had brought us to that festival – not only was it the very first incarnation of that event, but the sole reason we were even in the neighbourhood was because our bus had unexpectedly terminated at that particular pier.
Food truck haven
The energy at Off the Grid was fantastic – people were so excited about the food! It was such a great alternative to a sit-down meal, being able to sample different cuisines from two dozen trucks while basking in the late evening sun.
The draw of food trucks
Although the food truck culture is inherent in San Francisco, Mack and I started to think – why couldn’t such an event happen in Edmonton? Our city has a burgeoning food truck scene, so a version of Off the Grid wasn’t out of the question.
After several weeks of planning, we’re happy to finally announce the details of What the Truck?! Edmonton’s food truck extravaganza!
What: What the Truck?!
When: Friday, June 24, 2011, 4-8pm
Where: Beaver Hills House Park, 105 Street & Jasper Avenue
We are thrilled that 7 vendors have agreed to support our event, offering a wide range of savoury and sweet options. Carnival Cravings, Eva Sweet, Fat Franks, Filistix, the Fork and Spoon Brigade, Funky Pickle and The Lingnan will be on hand that night.
I should also mention that Urban Monks DJ’s Marc Carnes and Thomas Scott will be spinning for us, helping us set the tone for the evening.
If you’re planning on attending, please RSVP on our Facebook page – it’ll give us an idea of how many people to expect. Our hope is that this can be an ongoing event, but of course, it will depend on how this first occasion goes.
We hope to see you out at What the Truck?!
Gabe Wong deserves special mention for the logo he designed. We think he captured our whimsical sentiment perfectly!
Only Here for the Food 
Thanks to you and Mack for bringing this to Edmonton!
What a great idea! I think our city needs more street food, and maybe something like this would get people excited about seeing more trucks and carts out there.
This is a super great idea and event!
Sad I won’t be able to attend, but can’t wait to see pics from the event 🙂
What a blast! Brilliant! Love it – great downtown revitalization – would be a lovely addition to El Fresco – did I spell that right? Maybe next year…
And great to have the truck stop idea at different places now and then all together… we have so many beautiful parks etc.
I had no idea we had so many here.
🙂
Valerie
This sounds so awesome! Hopefully I have that night off work, so I can attend!
Corey – that’s certainly our hope! And after announcing the event, we’ve been contacted by a few more food trucks that we didn’t even know existed!
There are quite a few food trucks that set up on the east side of Churchill Square during summer events. Hope you can get them to join too. Blue Willow and New Asian Village both have trucks there 🙂
Subhadeep – we’re definitely keeping all options in mind if this becomes a regular event :).
Awesome idea guys!! Food trucks are totally the thing now–well, because of Eat Street.