‘Food Truck Frenzy’ in the Good Life City
'Food Truck Frenzy' in the Good Life City
ALBANY, GA – Good food, good people…a first time, but definitely not the last time event today in the Good Life City drew big crowds to downtown Albany and is being hailed a huge success.
CBS 44 News Reporter Mary Alex Anders was in the middle of it all…
Ricky, the sun is out, the lines are long, the food is delicious, the music is great…. It’s a perfect day to be out here for the first ever ‘Food Truck Frenzy’ event in downtown Albany!
“This is not only a great way to bring the community together, but this is also a great way for us to show our local support for local businesses. As you can see, the lines are long, people are standing in line, we have over 20 food truck vendors, arts and craft vendors, face painting, we have games, it’s just a great way to spend a few hours on your lunch break!” said Lequirca Gaskins.
From burgers, to barbeque, to seafood, to sweet treats and more, this free event brought hundreds of people downtown…
Although all the lines were long, people were dying to get a bite out of one specific vendor….
“Honestly…I kind of thought we would have a great turnout, but it’s exceeded my expectations, and we’re thankful,” said Viondi Pate, owner of Pate’s Pit Barbeque
During the pandemic Pate spent weeks in the ICU battling COVID…. After his release, Pate’s Pit Barbeque was born.
But, owning a food truck is not as easy or cheap, as some may think. And, he says community support is everything.
“Sometimes it can be more expensive, because you have to have a base of operations which is a whole another building you have to pay for so I can get up there, so having the city to come out and do an event like this is really helpful to help get the word out about our truck so people can focus on social media so they can know where we are,” said Pate.
The city declared the spot of the ‘Food Truck Frenzy’ an official food truck lot… which will benefit both downtown and local businesses.
“The trucks that you see here can come down anytime Monday through Friday for lunch and help feed customers, because we have a serious lack of food supply in downtown Albany as far as the number of restaurants for lunch, and over 5,000 workers, and we try to bring food out to the workers. So, this is kind of like a kick off event for that,” said Pate.
Alongside food trucks, this event welcomed every type of small business….
Latasha Humphrey makes, packages, and ships all of her naturally-based feminine hygiene products from her own home, and says being about to show her products to the public is very beneficial.
“This helps a lot. I definitely look forward to events like this so I can get the word out, because I don’t have a physical location. I enjoy being able to take advantage of setting up and just being able to share my products with other people,” said Humphrey, owner of Kreative Krafts HQ.
If you missed out on the fun today… don’t worry! There will be another ‘Food Truck Frenzy’ event towards the end of the month.
If you are a vendor interested in participating, you can contact the downtown Albany managers office at (229)-483-7665.
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