Illustration provided
With the emergence of Horicon’s ‘Food Truck Fridays on the Pond,’ an array of freewheeling food, musical entertainment and displays by local businesses and organizations will be presented each Friday from June 28 through Aug. 30 in Brant Lake.
BRANT LAKE | The Town of Horicon is going to follow in the footsteps of Los Angeles and Austin as it seeks to spice up its tourism with a brand-new attraction.
The local government is launching their “Food Truck Fridays on the Pond” fest, to be held weekly from June 28 through Aug. 30 in the hamlet of Brant Lake.
Ten food trucks have signed up to provide a variety of edibles on a rotating basis over the 10 consecutive weeks, with about five of them featured each Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Horicon Town Hall parking lot.
Scheduled for the opening night are two Horicon-based vendors of free-wheeling food: Red Wagon Barbecue — featuring smoked meats, salads and sandwiches — and Chilly Willy’s ice cream. Also signed up for this summer are vendors of tacos, pizza, mac and cheese, as well as specialty beverages — and several of these may also be present for opening night June 28.
Food Truck Fridays, to be situated a stone’s throw from the Mill Pond are to feature live music provided by regional bands, games, plus booths sponsored by area businesses and organizations.
On June 28, The 1979 Band is featured. The following week, the Willie Playmore Band will be performing. On July 12, Dirt Cheap is to provide the entertainment.
The weekly events are to feature a cornhole tournament, and more games may be added as the summer progresses.
Although Horicon is known as a magnet for bicycle enthusiasts — with The Hub cafe/tavern/bike shop having become a regional attraction, the town has otherwise been fairly sleepy, with the exception of their annual Horicon Day event held in August and their new Woodstock Revisited party held last weekend.
This week, Horicon Town supervisor Matt Simpson said he expects that Food Truck Fridays will be fun and festive, adding that the concept was dreamed up by a group of business owners and Town Clerk Krista Wood.
“It’s an exciting new attraction for our town,” Simpson said. “It’s going to be a great weekly event, providing a fun time for visitors and residents.”
Wood deferred credit to the local business owners for brainstorming the event.
“They thought it would be a really good way to showcase the town and bring attention to local businesses, while offering something fun in town that we could call our own,” she said.
What began as a few small taco carts on one urban street and catering trucks at construction sites in Austin, Texas in the early 2000s, grew to 1,700 within a half-dozen years, fueled by the emergence of more than a dozen renowned music festivals including Austin City Limits and the South by Southwest.
Los Angeles was also one of the first cities to experience the proliferation of food trucks, and these two cities have sparked a trend throughout the nation.
