Before autumn rolls in, I wanted to take a look back at our last two What the Truck?! events of the season.
What the Truck?! @ Borden Park
One of the things we’re most proud of about What the Truck?! is our commitment to mobility, and the fact that the festival has convened at at least one new location every year.
This year, that location was Borden Park, a green space that the City has spent a pretty penny revitalizing. The new walkways, benches, playground, washroom facilities and public art are definitely worth exploring, and we hoped our event would help draw out more Edmontonians who haven’t yet discovered this revamped gem.
In the shadow of Northlands Park
Though it was more stressful than we would have liked (involving the blatant overlooking of no parking signs), the event saw friends and young families gather to enjoy an outdoor picnic and take advantage of the park’s amenities.
Short lines
DJs – Thomas Culture, Chesterfield and Polyesterday played a danceable soundtrack, which more than one young attendee enjoyed.
Dancing!
As always, it was great to have a mix of veteran and new trucks, which on this occasion included Canicus Catering, Dolce & Banana and One Cool Cookie. Ice cream sandwiches were definitely on the menu for most on that warm day!
Chocolate chip and salted caramel sandwich from One Cool Cookie
Thanks to everyone who came out!
You can’t miss us in our t-shirts
What the Truck?! @ Churchill Square
Our season finale at Churchill Square also happened to be our biggest event ever, featuring a gathering of 24 trucks. To accommodate this, we closed off an adjacent street, occupying roughly the same footprint as the Taste of Edmonton.
Churchill Square
It really was unfortunate the weather didn’t cooperate – overcast and drizzling for most of the afternoon, the grey skies intimidated many from taking in the last event of the year.
Under the trees
That said, those that did attend were able to take in a dizzying variety of food, short lines, and ample space to mingle.
99 Street
It was also the first event where we offered a printable, PDF version of the menu. We were happy to see many used this feature, which we will definitely be implementing again in the future.
Menus in hand!
Thanks to our sponsors the Downtown Edmonton Community League and the Old Strathcona Business Association, and of course, a big thank you to our team of DJs – Thomas Culture, Chesterfield and The Hugonaut. And a HUGE (belated) thank you to our fabulous clean-up volunteers – the Square has never looked so good. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Dinner crowd
The organizing team will be taking a break over the winter months, but details about another season of What the Truck?! will be released in the spring. In the meantime, if you did attend any of our events this past year, please consider filling out our survey – we’d love to hear your feedback as we look towards 2015.
Until then – the trucks will be out for another few weeks before the frost rolls in – make sure to get your fix before then. See you next year!
