North Aurora resident Jim Santo started his Memorial Day weekend with a visit to a food truck festival in his hometown Friday night and easily found something to his liking.
“I’m glad to see something like this. It’s nice. For me, when I go somewhere, I like to try different things but my favorite thing is tacos or gyros, although I just finished eating the lobster roll,” Santo said. “This is actually the first food truck festival I’ve been to … and I plan to visit more.”
The village of North Aurora welcomed in the Memorial Day weekend on Friday with one of the most celebrated components of the holiday – food.
Beginning at 4 p.m., a brand-new event known as Cuisine at the Crossroads was offered at the intersection of South Lincolnway and West State Street, where visitors were able to enjoy nearly a dozen food trucks as well as live music.
Natalie Stevens, who oversees special events for North Aurora, said the reason behind the food event was that part of the village’s ongoing strategy is to increase engagement within the community.
“This is the first year doing this. We’ve been trying to increase special events in the community and we know that food truck festivals have been popular at other places in the area, and we thought we’d give it a try,” Stevens said.
The event was organized for the village through a vendor known as Brew Avenue Events.
Food options included pizza, Mexican dishes, lobster rolls and pierogies along with funnel cakes and lemonade shakeups.
One of Friday’s vendors was Pat Haran of Park Ridge, who came with his Rita’s food truck which he said included Italian ice custard.
He said this was his first season doing the food truck tour.
“We wanted to come to this. It seems like a great event and it’s a beautiful day and seems like it’s going to be packed,” Haran said. “We have a store but this is actually our first summer with the truck and we’ll probably go to more than 12 events this season. I think these fests have grown because they are always fun and it’s nice to be outside.”
Friday’s beautiful weather coupled with the backdrop of the Fox River just behind the site provided the setting for Cuisine at the Crossroads, something that was not lost on local resident Debbie Kenney, who said she would offer her opinion on the new local event “as soon as I sink my teeth into this tamale.”
“I think this is a fantastic idea to have this food truck festival – greatly appreciated and you couldn’t have more beautiful weather,” she said. “Absolutely, keep bringing it back. This is my second truck visit and I’m not sure how many more I’ll do. I came hungry and I’m off to a good start.”
Taylor Glende of Sugar Grove came with her husband John and two children and said she likes “to follow certain trucks around” during the food truck season.
“We like the pierogi truck and trying the different tacos,” she said. “The kids like pizza and french fries from different places, and we like the funnel cakes. I like the whole outdoor space thing. It’s not fancy and you get options and it’s not that expensive.”
John Glende said he liked that “there are a lot of options.”
“Kids get to hang out and run around here and eat funnel cakes,” he said. “My wife found out about this. She’s a big food truck person. I plan on trying probably half the things here.”
Stevens said the food fest was all about bringing the community together, the product of a planning session that began a year ago that will be followed up with a number of events in the coming months.
“The board would like to see more community events and we are having our first kite-flying event next week on June 3 and we are revisiting movie night in the park which will be in July,” she said.
Other events on tap in North Aurora will be the return for the fourth time of a village scavenger hunt to be held on July 1 “to explore different parts and public spaces of the village” along with North Aurora Days near the Fourth of July and a Christmas program at the end of the year.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
