Residents looking for a midwinter night out have a fun foodie option on Tuesday, Feb. 24, when the Estes Valley Community Center hosts its winter food truck rally from 5 to 8 p.m. at 660 Community Drive.
“I think it offers community,” said food truck rally organizer Julie Bunton. “It’s a small niche town; a lot of people don’t necessarily live in neighborhoods. People are spread out, and restaurants are also spread out, which tends to divide people up a little bit. So, this is a chance for everybody to kind of come together.”
The free event, which features a lineup of local and regional vendors including Mangia Mangia Pizzeria, Johnny’s Good Eatin’, Wes Tex BBQ, Crepes on Wheels, Glacier Ice Cream, Lulu’s Taters, and Kissing Moose Cafe, is designed to create what Bunton describes as a “block party-type style with food trucks all around, yard games, and fun for the family.” Bunton, fitness and 55Plus manager at the Community Center, said the rally grew out of relationships built through the center’s Tuesday Night Live series.
“One of our programs that we started back in 2020 was Tuesday Night Live, which was a music series at the marina, and it brought live music and food trucks together for a free community concert for Estes,” Bunton said. “Through those conversations, the food truck vendors themselves were saying, ‘Hey, can we do more of these? Are there more opportunities for food trucks in the community?’”
At the same time, a districtwide community survey identified festivals and special events as a top priority for future programming, with 35 percent of respondents highlighting interest in expanded community gatherings. Bunton said that feedback helped inspire the creation of seasonal food truck rallies intended to support both residents and small business owners during the tourism off-season.
“We’re just trying to give the food truck something in the off-season,” Bunton said. “We’ll do this winter rally, a rally in the spring on April 28, and then we’ll go to our Tuesday Night Live summer series, which will feature food trucks, and then do another rally in the fall.”
The first rally, held Aug. 26 at Stanley Park, took place in heavy rain but still drew a strong turnout. According to Bunton, all 10 participating trucks sold out despite flooded parking areas and muddy conditions.
“The community rallied, and it was wonderful,” Bunton said. “People were out there in the rain, but I think because it was a focused feature of food trucks and not food trucks at an event or at a brewery, people came specifically for them and really supported them, which was wonderful. After that event, we knew we had to do it again.”
This winter’s rally will be held at the lower level of the community center, allowing organizers to move activities indoors if needed due to weather. Bunton said she hopes the event will draw at least 100 attendees, based on participation in similar recent fairs and festivals hosted by the district.
In addition to dinner options, Girl Scouts will be onsite selling cookies, and families are encouraged to come socialize even if they do not plan to purchase food.
“We are hoping to have at least 100 people here,” Bunton said. “Despite the rain, over 100 people attended the event in August, and we hope for even more this time. We have some sporting events and fitness classes scheduled for that Tuesday, so the fact that the food truck rally is here on-site, as people leave the community center from their workout or class, I’m hoping they’ll just make the rally their dinner choice.”
By creating a casual gathering space centered around shared meals, Bunton said the rally can help foster connections across age groups in a town where social opportunities for young adults and families can sometimes be limited.
“Feel free to come in; even if you don’t eat, come and sit and hang out with friends and family,” Bunton said. “I’m hoping it will feel like a block party where we’re just one big neighborhood coming together and eating a meal together.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.