When someone loves food trucks, but knows there aren’t enough events for them to set up at, what do they do?
They start their own food truck festivals around the Fraser Valley.
Langley’s Laine Ogilvie doesn’t even have a food truck of her own. Her passion for the mobile eating movement came one step removed.
“My sister and her husband have a food truck and that’s where I got the idea for this,” she said of her Fraser Valley Food truck festivals. “This is our second year.”
The Langley Food Truck Festival is set to happen this Saturday, June 3, at Douglas Park from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More than a gathering of food trucks, it’s an inclusive family event with a wide range of activities to appeal, Ogilvie said. Plus the whole day of food and fun is free to attend.
“We’ve got 22 [food trucks] signed up,” she elaborated. “And we have a band, the Pop Junkies. It’s very family oriented. We really do attract young families.”
Among the trucks attending will be Reel Mac & Cheese, Mo Bacon, Super Thai Food, Whistler Wood-fired Pizza, and The Reef Runner. Obviously the dishes available will be diverse and plentiful, Ogilvie added.
Along with food and music, there will be bouncy castles for the kids, artisan markets with unique hand-crafted items, airbrush tattoos, and more. Ogilvie has found that with the Langley event, and other food truck festivals she puts on throughout the Fraser Valley, people are willing to drive to different communities to take part.
“Some people come to every event we do,” she noted. “We get the comments on Facebook… they follow [the events] around.”
Unlike in Vancouver where food trucks can set up on a street and sell their offerings, food trucks in the Fraser Valley and are prevented from street-side sales. And it doesn’t make sense for Valley-based trucks to drive all the way to Vancouver, Ogilvie explained, so food truck vendors are seen primarily at events and private functions.
“In 2014, a lot of events had food trucks,” she said. That’s what this helped her realize that when events weren’t happening, food trucks sat unused and thus the food truck festivals were born.
“In the Fraser Valley, they can’t set up on a street,” she said. “These events are the only way.”
She promises that Douglas Park will be home to delicious smells and tastes this weekend, thanks to the Langley Food truck Festival.
