What the Truck?! Update

What The Truck?! at Capital Boulevard (May 2018)
What The Truck?! at Capital Boulevard (May 2018)

It’s almost food truck season and we are very excited that the trucks will be out and about soon! As such, we also wanted to provide some updates on the What the Truck?! front.

Over the off-season, we have been reflecting on our mission and goals, and while we remain ardent supporters of food trucks, we are changing the way we can support the food truck community.

As food truck culture in the city has evolved, What the Truck?! has also evolved and we moved away from many smaller truck stop events to a handful of larger scale events throughout the season. However, we have now reached the time where we will be stepping back from organizing food truck events under the What the Truck?! banner. We’re now going to focus on promoting food trucks and food truck culture through our website and social media.

Our goal has always been to promote food trucks and food truck culture to Edmontonians and our events have been a big part of that over the years. Watching the number of food trucks grow over the past several years and seeing trucks being incorporated at various events has brought us a lot of joy! Food trucks are a part of the fabric that makes up the Edmonton food scene with a presence on the streets, markets and events!

We are proud of what we have accomplished and the role we have had in promoting and supporting food trucks in Edmonton. We remain passionate about food trucks and will continue to provide a linkage for event organizers to reach out to our membership via the “Book the Trucks” form. We are also planning to re-develop our website to provide you with more information about the trucks as well as to promote and share other events involving food trucks.

Thank you to everyone who has ever attended a What the Truck?! event! We couldn’t done it without you and we look forward to running into you in a food truck line this season!

What the Truck?! 2018 Season Announcement!

While it may feel like we are still in the grips of winter, the sunshine and (slowly) melting snow remind us that Spring is nearly here and with it comes food truck season! We are pleased to announce the early details of our 2018 What the Truck?! season.

What The Truck?! 2017 at Capital Boulevard
What The Truck?! 2017 at Capital Boulevard

Saturday, May 26, 3:00 – 8:00pm: Capital Boulevard (99 Avenue and 108 Street)

After last season’s wrap up event on Capital Boulevard, we are back again to kick off food truck season!

RSVP on our Facebook event – We hope to see you there!

Edmonton Valley Zoo Entrance

Friday, July 6, 5:00 – 10:00pm: Edmonton Valley Zoo

We are very excited to be at the Edmonton Valley Zoo for the first time! The trucks will be parked throughout the zoo so you can find dinner while learning about the animals.

Save the Date on our Facebook event!

28882528500_8f4edf597a_z

Sunday, August 26, 11:00am – 4:00pm: Re/Max Field (Edmonton Ballpark)

We are thrilled to be bringing back the Trucks in the Outfields to cap off the 2018 season! Previous events in 2015 and 2016 were fantastic fun and we are keeping our fingers crossed for sunshine for our last event of the year.

Save the Date here!

Volunteer with Us!

We are also looking for volunteers to assist on the days of the events! Please fill in the volunteer form if you are interested in volunteering.

September 9th, 2017 What The Truck?! at Capital Boulevard

Fall is in the air but that doesn’t mean summer is over quite yet!

What The Truck?! Capital Boulevard

Join us for our final event of the season and explore our beautiful downtown!

What: What the Truck?!
Where: Capital Boulevard (99 Avenue and 108 Street, Edmonton, AB)
When: Saturday, September 9, 2017
Time: 12-7PM 

RSVP to our Facebook event and don’t miss out! Food truck lineup and menus will be posted soon.

What’s Going On at What the Truck?! in 2017

We’re almost two weeks away from our kickoff event on May 14th at Northlands, and we couldn’t be more excited! However, we’d be remiss to not mention that we’ve had some changes to the team, as well as shifted our focus this season somewhat to match the food truck-scape in Edmonton. So here’s a look at what we’ve been up to, and what direction we’re heading in.

27375757686_fc78d010ef_k

After last season’s wrap-up meetings with the trucks who participate in our events, combined with the feedback from our volunteers and attendees the past two seasons, we have decided to scale back from a full season of events, and shift to doing only two large events – a kickoff in May, and finale in September – to bookend the main food truck months.

What the Truck?! was started as a group to help advocate for and promote food trucks and food truck culture in Edmonton at a time when there weren’t many trucks in our city, and there were a lot more road blocks for new, local businesses to get their feet in the door and share their food and passion with customers. Change isn’t always readily accepted from the get-go.

Fast forward to this past season – there were more than 100 trucks in our database by the end of 2016, and food trucks are a staple at nearly every outdoor event that our festival city has to offer. Our events used to be a way for people to come see different areas of town and try new food trucks that they might not see during their weekday lunch hours. The need simply isn’t the same as it used to be – and we’re totally okay with that – it means that our dream of seeing food trucks embraced and local businesses succeed is a reality, and that’s pretty darn cool.

So instead of planning extra events that take away opportunities for trucks to come out to all of the other wonderful events, we want to embrace change, and instead plan to regularly promote and share everyone’s events that have food trucks – because we want you to go to them, we want you to try all of the amazing food that everyone has to offer, and we want you to continue to be the fantastic city that tasks risks, tries new things, and supports one another.

If you have an event coming up that you have already booked trucks at – Farmer’s Markets, festivals, everyone – you can fill out our Share Your Event form (preferably at least a week in advance!) and we’ll include your event in our posts.

If you have an event coming up that you want food trucks at, you can still fill out our Book the Trucks form – and if you want us to include your event in our posts, you can indicate that right in the form too.

If you’re a truck that still wants to get involved with our season this year (because we’ll share out anything that you tell us you’re going to be at too!), you can still apply to become a member.

2015-09-21 13.47.00

Our team of 7 from 2015 went down to 6 in 2016, and now we’re a 3-man band in 2017. Mack and Melina have been working diligently to put together the events this season, and Su is a volunteer coordinating rock star (if you want to volunteer at our May event, please e-mail her at team@whatthetruck.ca!).

We really hope we’ll see you at our kickoff in May – but if not, we’ll see you out and about at events this summer, and at the finale event in September!

What the Truck?! 2017 Season Kickoff

Spring has sprung, and we’re ready to come out of hibernation!

13006674_1117903048270014_6435716802582026327_n

Food truck season is upon us, and we’re back again for 2017! We’re kicking off the season with one BIG event, so join us on Sunday, May 14 from 12-7PM at Northlands, just outside the Expo Centre for fantastic food, music, and family-friendly beer gardens!

Parking and event admission are completely FREE of charge, and unfortunately only service dogs are allowed onsite.

RSVP to our Facebook event, and be sure to check back for the truck lineup  and menus in the coming weeks!

If you’re a new truck hoping to get involved this season, it’s not too late – Contact us at team@whatthetruck.ca for more information!