For anyone with a hankering for some turkey BBQ on Sunday, downtown Mount Airy is the place to be.
The same could be said for anyone craving cheesecake, kettle corn, fries, steak burgers, homeslice pizza … the list could go on and on.
Same if someone’s wanting a bit of brew, or a local wine.
That’s because for six hours Sunday afternoon, downtown Mount Airy will be the site of the Mayberry Food Truck Fest, sponsored by Mount Airy Downtown.
“Part of our vision statement … is to highlight the unique cuisine we have,” said Lizzie Morrison, Main Street coordinator for the sponsoring group.
Highlighting cuisine will definitely be on the menu, with 28 vendors lining the streets.
“Some of those are beer vendors, some are wine vendors, maybe five or six are for beer and wine. Everything else is a food vendor,” she said. “We don’t have any craft vendors, we keep it strictly for food, wine and beer.”
And music.
The Will Jones Band will be playing on a stage to be set up in the parking lot between Brannock & Hiatt Furniture Co. and Old North State Winery.
This will be the second Food Truck Fest the group has sponsored. The first, in March, faced less than ideal weather.
Still, Morrison said the event was a success.
“After talking with the police department, they estimate we had between 10,000 and 15,000 people come through, which was crazy because it rained all day. A lot of the food trucks actually sold out of food.”
Morrison said given that it was a first-time event, she had hoped it would break-even financially. Instead, it cleared $5,000 for Mount Airy Downtown, money to be used to help fund the agency’s downtown revitalization work.
With a forecast of clear skies and temperatures in the upper 70s, Morrison is hoping for even more success this time around — and moving forward.
“We’re going to continue doing these, one every spring and one in the fall,” she said, adding the spring 2018 date has been set for March 25. No date has been selected for next year’s autumn fest.
She said a portion of downtown will be closed to vehicular traffic.
“Main Street will be closed, just past the Episcopal Church, all the way to Franklin Street, but Franklin Street will be open. A tiny part of Moore and Virginia streets will be close, you won’t be able to cross over Oak Street either.”
The event gets underway at noon and lasts until 6 p.m. Admission to the festival is free, though anyone wishing to purchase beer or wine will first need to buy a commemorative cup from a location at the corner of Main and Oak streets. The cost is $5, and will earn the purchaser a cup and wrist band.
“You will have to show ID” when purchasing the cup and band, she said.
