Bring your appetite downtown this Saturday.
About 20 food trucks will line First Avenue for the Fraser Valley Food Truck Festival on April 18. The event in Mission is sponsored by the Mission Downtown Business Association.
From classic comfort foods, like mini donuts, ice cream, and burgers to international cuisines, like Korean grilled treats, donairs and perogies, there will be something for everyone. Other popular trucks include the Bannock Wagon, Poomba’s Smoke House, and Slavic Rolls. A complete list of trucks coming is available on the MDBA Facebook page.
Usually the food truck festivals are held in a contained area, like a parking lot, but Mission’s event will be on the street from Horne Street to Grand Street.
“There will be about six trucks per block, three on each side,” explained Laine Ogilvie, creator of the festival. She also noted some trucks will also set up in front of The Stage, just west of Grand.
All trucks will have half or sample orders on the menu for $6 or less to give attendees a chance to try as many foods as they can.
Ogilvie also recommends bringing cash to the festival as only a few trucks accept credit cards and transactions are quicker with cash.
First Avenue will not be closed for the event, but there will be traffic calming measures in place, such as a speed reduction to 30 km/h.
The trucks will have service windows facing the sidewalk and there will be a seating area at Mission Oaks Mall, sponsored by the Mission City Farmers Market. There will also be other entertainment there too including live music, face painting, and balloon twisting.
If you get there early, you could also receive a swag bag from Ogilvie and her team. The bags contain small treats or other tokens from downtown Mission merchants as well as festival organizers.
“We’re always trying to find new, unique ideas to draw people downtown,” said MDBA executive director Jamie Hayes. “We’ve been tossing the idea of a food truck festival around for a while.”
When she discovered the Fraser Valley Food Truck Association, she knew she had found the perfect fit. Thousands of people have attended similar events in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, but Hayes isn’t sure what to expect in Mission.
“This is quite new to us,” she said. “I hope people will come hungry and I hope they will look around the different shops downtown too. We have so many great restaurants here as well.”
The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. but some trucks will stay a bit later for the after party at The Stage.
Free parking will be available at the West Coast Express parking lot for the event.