Photo from the July 24 event courtesy Long Beach Junior Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation
3:40pm | After a wildly successful debut this July that brought more than twenty food trucks and hundreds of hungry attendees, the Long Beach Street Food Festival will be held again at Rainbow Lagoon Park in downtown Long Beach from 10:30am-5:00pm on October 9.
“The event was fun for us, I think it was fun for the attendees and it was fun for the trucks and we were able to raise a lot of money for charity,” said Jean Hartman of the Long Beach Junior Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation.
“It seemed like a no-brainer that as long as the weather is good we need to do another one.”
The food festival capitalizes on the growing Los Angeles trend of unique and gourmet food trucks that are more like five-star restaurants on wheels. In this automobile-centric environment it only makes sense that some of our best food is prepared in trucks, but the trend isn’t as popular in Long Beach. So Long Beach is bringing the trend on its own.
The event is called “Truckin’ Back To The LBC” and will grow to feature more than 25 of Southern California’s best gourmet food trucks, along with a beer garden and live entertainment.
For a $6 ticket ($8 at the gate), you get access to the diverse styles from more than two dozen trucks that range from pizza, seafood and the famous Grilled Cheese Truck to ice cream sandwiches and cupcakes. Whatever you decide, each selection will have a unique twist. The Komodo truck offers a deep-fried Alaskan Cod with grape salad called the “Fish N’ Grapes” while the “Smoky Melt” grilled cheese comes with gouda, bacon and tomatoes.
Three of the teams that recently competed in The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network will be in attendance: Nom Nom Truck, Crepes Bonaparte and Nana Queens.
Local bands Blue Steel and Cynthia Manley will be on stage to complete the experience. Click here for a list of participating trucks, ticket information and much more.
Proceeds benefit the Adopt-A-Teacher program that provides grants for Long Beach teachers to pay for classroom supplies that are no longer provided by the school district. The Long Beach Junior Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation continues this tradition in honor of former member Mary Pat Bamrick, who in 2004 passed on after a bout with cancer.
Did you go to the first Street Food Festival earlier this summer? Let us know how you liked it and if you plan on returning in October.