Ensuring that local food trucks are a staple in Tampa, Mayor Bob Buckhorn recently kicked off the inaugural Mayor's Food Truck Fiesta.
After attending the Tampa Bay region's first Food Truck Rally in Hyde Park in September, the idea for the
Food Truck Fiesta came about as Buckhorn considers ways to enhance a hip downtown atmosphere that hosts events to generate urban buzz.
“I was impressed by both the variety of trucks and the large crowd they attracted and I wanted to recreate that same excitement in our urban core,” says Buckhorn of the Hyde Park rally. “While other municipalities have struggled with out-dated ordinances, we've been flexible in an effort to accommodate this growing trend. We really want to define Tampa as a hip city.”
Located on Franklin Street between Madison Street and Kennedy Boulevard, the event began on Wednesday, Nov. 2, featuring food trucks such as
Taco Bus,
Fire Monkey,
Jerk Hut and
Gone Bananas; Mayor Buckhorn kicked off the event serving food at the
Wicked Wiches truck.
“The urban core is the center of our economic development efforts and this event serves the larger goal of creating more excitement in our downtown area,” says Buckhorn. “Downtown is now a place where people live, work and play and we need to showcase that fact by bringing more people down here -- increased foot traffic will benefit all of the businesses downtown.”
Happy to support the unique community of food truck entrepreneurs, The Mayor's Food Truck Fiesta will continue the first Wednesday of every month at lunchtime from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in downtown Tampa, featuring a variety of food trucks each month. The next event is on December 7.
Writer:
Alexis Quinn Chamberlain
Source:
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn
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