News

By: Casey Spears

Dropping temperatures and increasing winds couldn’t keep local residents of Colchester County away from the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus’ Fall Food Truck Fest last month.

Transformed from a campus parking lot, outside MacRae Library became the place to be on Friday night, October 30th. Attendees travelled from as far as Cape Breton to attend the food truck rally, while others simply came to campus from up the street. No matter where the attendees were from, it was an event no one wanted to miss.

Fall Food Truck Fest aimed to celebrate local entrepreneurs and farmers, with each vendor serving local farm fresh ingredients.

“My parents and I have been looking up the vendors’ menus all week planning what we’re going to get,” Hannah Mawhinney, Dalhousie Agricultural Campus graduate student, explained.

Hannah wasn’t the only one strategically planning her meal. Because lines were long, many couples split up while one waited in line for the main dish and the other headed over for dessert from a different vendor. No one wanted to miss a chance to sample food they wouldn’t normally have for supper.

Vendors in attendance were Truro’s own Taco Stiles, Peddler’s Pot Mobile Catering Services and Nomad Gourmet from Halifax, Ol’ School Donuts and Poppa Smoke’s from Dartmouth and Gecko Bus from Bedford. Each vendor came with his and her own unique menu, some of which included cheese cake eggrolls, taco fries, lamb burgers, burrito bowls and old fashioned flavoured donuts, to name a few.

The event also collected donations for the Colchester Food Bank with $137 and 141 pounds of food graciously donated. Newbridge Academy boy’s hockey team travelled from East Hants to attend the rally and each member brought an armload of food donations, which was greatly appreciated.

Set up beside the food bank donation table was Cupcakes on the Tailgate for a United Way of Colchester fundraiser. In total, over 300 cupcakes were made and sold by staff on campus with a total of $789 being raised and donated to the campaign.

When driving by the event, passing cars could see lights from the food trucks lighting up the dark parking lot and hundreds of people walking around enjoying the venue. People of all ages were taking advantage of a night off from cooking supper and trying out new foods.

With every vendor selling out of inventory and between 1,000-1,500 people in attendance, it has people asking, when can we do it again?