Food Truck Tuesday is back.
Hungry customers eagerly returned to Jackson’s Horace Blackman Park to grab a bite to eat from local food trucks.
After a year off due to COVID, Food Truck Tuesday is celebrating its third year. According to Jackson Downtown Development Authority Director Cory Mays the timing couldn’t have worked better.
“We had a lot of different restrictions we were ready to put in place such as spacing trucks, masks required,” Mays said. “We were even going to remove all of the picnic tables so we wouldn’t encourage people to stay and sit. Thankfully the numbers have been moving in the right direction and the governor has lifted a lot of the outdoor restrictions. We were able to make it look like a lot like it did in the past.”
Hundreds of customers enjoyed live music, food, smoothies, and coffee.
“Everyone has been watching COVID numbers like crazy. Everyone has been getting their shots,” Mays said. “It’s been really hard for us not to do anything. It’s our inclination to be out and be around people, enjoy our parks and cities and we haven’t been able to do that so for us it’s a huge day. Not just because the band is playing and the weather is nice. We’re finally out again. We can feel like we’re getting back into some routine of normalcy and be around people and interact with our community,” Mays said.
There were eight trucks offering choices like hot dogs, pizza, barbecue, and Jamaican food. Owners say they depend on these events to get the word out about their businesses.
Michael Purdy, who owns Catered Coffee out of Chelsea, still has his main location shut down due to COVID.
“The ability to travel from place-to-place and bring a whole coffee shop with us is amazing,” Purdy said.
Sam Durocher owns and operates Tiki Sam’s Pizza based out of Hanover. He says Jackson is their number one fan base but did not know quite what to expect from the first event.
“Turnout was great. Jackson loves to eat out. I think that this being the first Food Truck Tuesday, we’re wide open today. Show up if you’re vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask. The weather is perfect. People are enjoying themselves,” Durocher said.
They sold out of their pizzas with about a half-hour left in the event.
“The Consumers building is pretty empty. A lot of people working from home. I don’t want to say post-pandemic. With everyone working from home we just didn’t know what to expect but Jackson showed up,” Durocher said.
Mays said it was just great to see the sidewalks packed.
“Things aren’t 100 percent back to normal we’re just happy to see people back out and enjoying downtown,” Mays said.
Food trucks will be at Horace Blackman Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every first and third Tuesday of the month through August.
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