Aurora resident Charlie Caron was looking for a quick meal Friday night in downtown Aurora and found what he was looking for during the ninth annual Food Truck Fest.
“I’ve come to these food truck events before and for me it’s the fresh air and looking at people and if we get going early enough we’ll get in line and get some food, otherwise, it gets very crowded,” he said while making his way through the line of food trucks. “I like the concept. We don’t have any ‘go to’ places, we just go with the flow. My favorite is – I see food and I eat it.”
The Aurora Downtown group stages the annual Food Truck Fest, which ran from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday along Benton Street between Broadway and River Street.
A total of 30 vendors offering a diverse menu that included pizza, lobster rolls, chicken, barbecue, sandwiches, desserts and more were available to tempt visitors like Caron and the big crowd that came out to enjoy the street food options as well as a new music offering featuring a DJ at the event.
“We got a lot of interest about this event from the social media we were pushing out there,” said Tina de Chaud, executive director of the Aurora Downtown group. “There has been a lot of buzz and we’ve seen people posting, ‘Hey, do you want to go to the Food Truck Fest with me?,’ so it has even been a bit flirtatious. There was a lot of engagement on social media.
“There is plenty of excitement, and we’re happy to have the opportunity to add a few new things like putting in that DJ and putting out the dance vibe that we’re having,” she said. “We’re also introducing the official ‘Fun Patrol’ for Aurora Downtown so there’s a lot more interaction with the attendees in terms of our volunteers.”
The new “patrol,” du Chaud explained, “is a promotional idea were are putting out there with our volunteers who will be issuing positive ticket citations.”
“I’ve got six squads of two people each who will be walking around and have our Aurora Downtown branded logo on their shirts,” she said of the patrol at the fest. “Let’s say you and a friend were there for a food truck fest – one of the tickets might be, we have to cite you because you were speeding past that food truck. Another might be, we have to cite you because you’re taking too many selfies and we’re not part of it.”
Those “ticketed” were asked to “turn themselves in” to the Aurora Downtown booth on site, where they would receive “branded material which is helping to push the new branding of Aurora Downtown.”
Food, of course, was the star at the event. Places like the Happy Lobster food truck had a line 15 people deep 15 minutes before the official 5 p.m. opening of the fest.
Gina Salamone of Aurora was in line early for the food truck and admitted the line was long “because the lobster rolls are really good.”
“We don’t see them (lobster rolls) here in the Midwest much. I’m going to try a couple of other things and the weather, this time, is fantastic,” she said.
Cesar Vences of Cicero, who serves as the manager for the Happy Lobster food trucks, said he believes lines remain long “because our food is consistent.”
He said the company enjoys coming out to Aurora.
“This city always has a sold-out crowd and they follow us everywhere,” he said of the Food Truck Fest. “If they want to keep having us, we’ll keep coming for sure.”
Brendt Jimenez of Aurora said he has been to virtually “every truck fest they’ve held here in Aurora” and that his favorite items were “anything hot dog related as well as tamales.”
“I think people like to come to this because there is a sense of community among people and if it’s like a local food truck, it brings people in who want to see what they friends in the community have made,” he said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
