Food Truck Friday, the biggest food truck event in Northern Nevada, will be back on May 15th for the ninth year. And it's grown over the years.
"Starting from where we were, begging food trucks to come down on a Friday night and begging people to come down and support it, we're up to about 40 rotating vendors," said Steve Schroeder, Owner of Reno Street Food. "That's food, drink and dessert every Friday night. The Travel Channel said we're even one of the top ten largest weekly food truck events in the nation. And now we're on the foodie map so people are actually looking for an event like this and traveling as a destination to come here and participate."
Some of the businesses have participated since the beginning, some are brand new - and they're still looking to add to the lineup. Applications are due by February 15th - that's this Saturday, and the event isn't limited to just trucks.
"We're a very inclusive event," Schroeder said. "So if you're a chef with a restaurant, a chef with a dream, we allow pop-ups. That's a booth, and you come out with 5 or 6 items you want to sell and give it a try. We do the trucks, the trailers, anything, we want anybody to apply."
It's turned into one of the biggest weekly events in the region; thousands come down to Idlewild park every Friday.
"We'll see about 80,000 people here throughout the summer," Schroeder said. "Our food trucks, in 100 hours of business last year, had done over $2.5 million in business, which is great for business taxes and sales taxes in our state. So it turned into something that achieved many goals. I just wanted something families could do together on a Friday night, I wanted something for food trucks to grow and thrive."
More information: Renostreetfood@gmail.com
