The annual Food Truck Fest returns to downtown Aurora beginning at 5 p.m. Friday.
First begun back in 2014, the popular fest, organized by the Aurora Downtown group, has grown to 30 vendors whose trucks will line Benton Street between Broadway and River streets for a four-hour food festival featuring a broad range of street food, beverages and dessert options.
Aurora Downtown Executive Director Tina de Chaud said the event has become so popular vendors have now had to join a waiting list to take part in the fest.
“We do have a lot of our popular vendors back from previous years and have added a few twists this year that will extend the party,” de Chaud said.
Those “twists” included offering “all of the downtown restaurants to do a pop-up” at the event, with three of them – Tavern on Broadway, Craft Urban and Kathryn’s Place – electing to participate.
Food options at the fest will feature pizza, lobster, chicken, barbecue, sandwiches, Mexican and Asian specialties, desserts like ice cream and pastries, and more.
Waubonsee Community College is sponsoring music at the fest this year by DJ Pena.
Organizers said the food truck fest really seems to be “the unofficial start of summer.”
The continued popularity of the food truck festival, du Chaud said, is due to the no-fuss nature it offers as well as the variety of options.
“Crowds support this because of the variety you have and the simplicity of it all,” she said. “You can come and get whatever you want. There’s a broad selection of food types and you’re supporting someone local who may be just starting off. Some go on to become a bricks and mortar place, and that’s a success story too.”
Despite the food truck festival ending at 9 p.m., de Chaud said the celebration will continue after hours this year with an “after party” that will run from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m. at Ballydoyle, 28 W. New York St.
“This year is unique,” she said. “Instead of just a fest and getting food and moving on, we’ve added music, we’ve added a DJ and a whole dance area. Because we are the City of Lights, once the sun sets, we are cranking it up with some of our sponsors and we have an after party to just to extend the time downtown.”
Ballydoyle is sponsoring lighted wands for when the sun sets and will host the after party. Anyone lucky enough to get a lighted wand at the Food Truck Fest can get $5 off the $10 cover charge for the after party at Ballydoyle.
Food Truck Fest will take place during the monthly First Fridays event in downtown Aurora, which features retail and restaurant deals, art, music and more throughout downtown.
For more on First Fridays, go to auroradowntown.org.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.