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Foodies Come Out in Droves for Food Truck Rally

Shiny trucks, good food and music by the Reeferman bring crowds to Royal Oak on a Wednesday night.

 
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Franks Anatra served hot dogs from a classic 1965 Volkswagen at Street Eats Wednesday at the Royal Oak Farmers Market.
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Foodies rallied into the Royal Oak Farmers Market in droves for Street Eats Wednesday.

Six food trucks – Jacques’ Tacos, Chow Catering, Taco Mama, Franks Anatra, Ned's TravelBurgers, and El Guapo Fresh Mexican Grill – along with a Treat Dreams cart squeezed into the market; Concrete Cuisine set up on the west porch. The Michigan Mobile Food Vendors Association sponsored the event.

By 7 p.m., halfway through the four-hour event, Market Master Shelly Mazur estimated 1,200 hungry customers had passed through the market to visit one or more of the seven food vendors. By 8 p.m. all one food truck had left were sweet potato wedges and hard-boiled eggs.

James MacPhee of Royal Oak figures he waited one hour for a $3 taco from Jacques' Tacos. MacPhee said he came to see the entertainment, the Reefermen.

“I had no idea there was going to be this big crowd,” MacPhee said. “It’s a pretty cool event, but they need more room and better organization.”

Most people didn’t know what food truck they were in line for or what was even on the menu, MacPhee speculated.

“They need to rope off lines and pass out some sort of flier so people know where to stand and what the choices are,” he said.

Bill Tarr of Royal Oak said he waited in line about 20 minutes. He bought sliders, beef brisket, pasta and two pops for his son and himself for about $17. Tarr said the food and price were good, but what he really came for was the “atmosphere.”

Mayor Jim Ellison, Mayor Pro Tem Patricia Capello and Interim City Engineer Matt Callahn were all spotted at the event.

The mayor noted he didn’t see a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, but where all the people were from didn’t seem to matter as much as where they all came to—and on a Wednesday night, no less.

“This is good for Royal Oak,” Ellison said.

And the evening was good for local charities, too. Tips from Street Eats be donated to Focus HOPE, Forgotten Harvest, Michigan Humane Society and Camp Casey.

"We're really excited and thankful to the Royal Oak Farmers Market for allowing this event to happen," said Anthony Curis of El Guapo Fresh Mexican Grill. "We hope to make this a monthly event that brings attention to this growing industry."

Related Topics: Food Truck Rally and Street Eats

Jennifer M. Cline

9:32 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012

Sounds like a fabulous idea, but definitely needed some more organization. My family attended, but didn't want to wait the expected 45 minutes to an hour waiting in line -- especially since they couldn't see the menus to know what line they would stand in. They should create large menus and post them at entrances.

Perhaps another event could be organized with presale tickets? They could really sell people on the idea that it's linked to charities. Maybe they could let local charities, like the Royal Oak Animal Shelter, set up a small table to raise awareness about the causes.

There is definitely a lot of hype about food trucks in the area. They are a popular idea. This is a great way for people to taste the variety of trucks and decide which ones they'd like to visit later. I'd love to attend an event like this, so long as it was better organized and I didn't have to stand in line for an hour to get a $3 taco. I really hope they follow through and make this a monthly thing. It's a great way to get people to visit Royal Oak.

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Judy Davids

9:45 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012

I think everyone was surprised by the number of people that attended. My husband and I had to park several blocks away.

It was pretty amazing to see what people will do for a burger or a taco in the the middle of the week. (BTW James Wallin' of the Reefermen sounded great.)

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Stephanie Givens

10:26 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012

Food was great and it is awesome that there were so many people in attendance. Royal Oak should have more events like this, it's clear our town will come out to support these events. It was family friendly as well. Round of applause for the organizers!

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Mike

12:17 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012

Time to buy a food truck. Who's in? Thank the vendors for supporting the charities. That was very generous of them.

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Robin Major

4:29 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012

We went right at 5, got to try a ltille of everything we wanted...great idea...please do it again in a bigger space. :)

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