Set aside July 19 and 20…now…seriously…we’ll wait…
Update: the festival organizer changed the price for tickets to $5. Bring your ticket back on Sunday and pay only $2 admission!
Connecticut peeps really like their food trucks. And, on July 19 and 20 from 11-7 on both days, CT peeps are gonna fall straight up, head-over-heels in LOVE with a helluva lot of food trucks at the The Connecticut Food Truck Festival at the North Haven Fairgrounds. Although the final details are still being worked out, there are already a few dozen trucks that have been signed up, with 40-50 expected by the time of the festival. That brings this festival into the record books here in CT as the biggest food truck festival. The previous record was at Westbrook Tanger Outlets with about 20 food trucks, and the recent RBS Food Truck Festival clocking in at 15. And, the top record will soon be broken with an estimated 33 trucks at the Hamden Food Truck Festival…still not as big as the CT Food Truck Fest, though.
There will be an entry fee, but it won’t be much at all: $2 5 per person with a maximum amount of $5 per person with seniors and kids 17 and under free. A portion of that money will go towards advertising, making the event great, and donating to a local food bank. Not a bad deal at all! In addition to the massive amounts of trux, there will be bands, a retail area, crafts, and artisan vendors too!
“It’s going to be great because there will be lots of food trucks from around the state that people don’t normally get to see,” said Rob Craven, organizer of the event and owner of Connecticut Insiders. “The festival will not only feature the gourmet trucks (we all have our favorites), but there are lots of brand new food trucks that have just launched. So, it’s great to bring all the new trucks out who are just getting started. And, what a great place to advertise and let people know about you with thousands and thousand of people in attendance.”
As for Rob, he’s no stranger to bringing the community together. He has 10 years of experience of building up international companies to success, but at the end of the day it left him feeling unfulfilled. So, he took things in a new direction and decided that he wanted to start a company that supports local businesses. His recent endeavors include helping to open the North Haven Flea and Farmers Market in the hopes of building one of the largest markets in CT. He is also ready to launch Connecticut Insiders, which is a deals site similar to Groupon, that is focused on local business. Unlike the big-name deal sites, they’ll charge only a small fee. To Rob, it’s all about “starting where you live” and making a difference in your local community. “CT has taken a beating with companies leaving, so it’s important to help support the companies that stay and change things up.”
They’ll be teasing the participating food trucks over the next couple of weeks and will be releasing more information shortly. Already, you can expect to see Fruit Whirled, The Whey Station, The Spud Stud, and Aurora’s Gypsy Cafe on both days. Check back with us and check out their FB page for more up-to-date info.
And, if you’re a food truck owner and would like to be there on either or both days, please contact Rob Craven at ctfoodtruckfestival@gmail.com get in on the action.
Participating Trucks
Aurora’s Gypsy Cafe (both days)
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Truck (both days)
Bounty Food Truck (Sunday)
The Buzz Truck (both days)
DiSorbo’s Bakery Truck (both days)
Four Flours Bakery (both days)
Fruit Whirled (both days)
Gotta Q BBQ (both days)
Local Meatball (both days)
Mamoun’s Falafel Truck (both days)
Pierogies on Wheels (both days)
The Spud Stud (both days)
Tampa’s (both days)
Vanchetta (both days)
The Whey Station (both days)
1st Annual Connecticut Food Truck Festival
Time: 11-7 pm
Date: 7/19-20
Cost: $2 per person, $5 per family, kids 17 and under and seniors are free
North Haven Fairgrounds
300 Washington Avenue
North Haven, CT
OmNomCT 
There were maybe 25 food trucks/trailers. Not 40 or 50. I’d like to know what international companies he built up to success. Clearly he had a very hard time managing this event. I did not see what person there even wearing a “staff” shirt. Vendors were great. Organization was a joke! There was no signs to the bathroom, when you did find them there was no toilet paper. Trash was every where. They were stealing $5 from people knowing full well the trucks sold out. How do you say $2 then raise it to $5 last minute? I salute the vendors they were what held this event together. Mr.Craven wasn’t even capable of picking up the trash and restocking the toilet paper let alone helping international companies grow! Lets get real!
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Hey Jerry, did you go on Saturday or Sunday? From what we understand, some trucks sold out totally on Saturday and cancelled on Sunday. Some trucks also sold out within the first hour, so they also left because of that.
That being said, this was a big festival to take on. We’re sure if he runs it next year he hopefully learned many lessons from people’s complaints because they are all the same. As for the change of.admission, that took us by surprise. We interviewed him and he told us the cost and even set a family limit, but when he changed it we didn’t find out until CT Magazine wrote about it. We checked back on their sitr and they had changed the costs. It’s ironic because on a post over the weekend, their FB page said there were sites misreporting the costs. We’re assuming he meant ours, but that’s not our fault!
Thanks for your comments, Jerry. Did you share your thoughts on their FB page?
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Just came back from the festival. 1 hour to get off the highway, 35 minutes to get up rt. 5 and another 20 minutes to stand in line to hand over 5$. Maybe someone should have let North Haven Police know there was a festival. They should be ashamed of how they let the traffic congest the highway. Bet North Haven got all necessary permit $ in their pockets tho. Trucks crammed into a too small space, lines all running together. Music in the food area was ear blasting. Junk/tag sale stands had tons of room to spread out as did the kiddie spaces. Lines @ trucks were crazy long. It could be the best grilled cheese in the world but after a 20 minute wait to order and another 35 to get the sandwich, I truly could have cared less. Pulled pork took 45 minutes and they ran out of sauce (???!!!!) after being open for less than an hour. Took a good look around, no one seemed to be having a great time, not a lot of smiling folks with food in their hands. Just grumpy patrons in line, after line, after line. Seems that food trucks should be able to handle putting out lots of food in a little time, not sure what happened here. Maybe they should have done sample portions. Seemed like such a fantastic idea. Too bad the execution was terrible.
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Eileen, that’s too bad. Seems like they weren’t ready for the onslaught! Wish it was better for you. :s. Maybe Sunday will be better :s
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Food truck festival June 20, 2014 Hamden Town Center 4PM 32 Food Vendors, Music etc…
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Yes, just read about that. That’s the biggest so far…
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Did you know Chris Gorham was going to be there in support of Jewelry for a Cause and the Raise The Caliber initiative to end illegal gun violence in America?!??!?!
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No, we weren’t aware…but now we are! Just looking through your site, very nice. Thanks for coming on here and sharing. People check it out: http://jforacause.com
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