The Moorestown Business Association’s third annual food truck festival on Aug. 17 will also be an end-of-summer block party.
More than a dozen food trucks will line Main Street and live music will be provided by the local group Lost in Brunswick and DJ Blake. Event Chair Steven Pazienza explained how he brought the idea of having a food truck festival to the township.
“The food truck event was an idea I thought up … as I saw that the summer was really dull,” he said. “Once you had Moorestown Day in June, the MBA (business association) really didn’t do anything until autumn in Moorestown in October, and I said, ‘Well, why don’t we have some event in August?’”
Pazienza noted how the food truck festival has evolved since its inception.
“The very first (event) was run by EDAC (Economic Development Advisory Committee) … and it was a great turnout,” he recalled. “It was super weather … We always have right around 15 trucks, give or take … It’s just a little party for everyone to get back together again and I think people look forward to it.”
Pazienza said the MBA took safety precautions at last year’s festival, after the event was canceled in 2020 because of COVID.
“Last year, I had cocktail tables rather than family banquet tables so that we wouldn’t have large groups of people sitting together and more just standing up, and just having a place to put your food or a drink,” he said. “The whole premise, really, was to have big picnic tables where folks could just come and sit and chat, but we didn’t want to do that last year.”
Residents can expect a variety of food trucks at the end-of-summer block party.
“There’s always some of the familiar ones,” Pazienza said. “I always try to add a couple of new twists, just because I always think it’s nice to have something to look forward to … It should be some of past favorites, and a couple little new ones to gain a little twist.”
Pazienza looks forward to seeing people try new foods at the township event.
“I just think it’s always neat to go in … It’s like having a menu that just changes,” he noted. “You may always buy the same thing, but you kind of like to look at different options, and I think with the food trucks it’s kind of the same thing … It’s just like everything else; we always want to have a little novelty, yet not stray too far from what we’re comfortable with.”
“We hope to continue building on it, and we never know if you get food truck fatigue since we have other events going on,” Pazienza added, “but I think as long as the weather is nice, people are going to come out regardless.”
The food truck festival and block party will start at 5 p.m.
