Wichita’s Food truck rally void being filled by Boathouse event that keeps getting bigger
The food truck rallies that Wichita counted on for years — Food Trucks at the Fountain that happened on the final Sunday of every month and Night at the Fountain, which always happened on the third Friday — fell apart this year for various reasons.
But a new rally by new organizers has been steadily growing since Xclusive Event Services took over the management of the Wichita Boathouse and started throwing Final Friday parties in the summer of 2020, and it’s poised to fill the rally gap.
The August installment of Xclusive’s Final Friday party will happen from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and will feature its biggest lineup of food trucks yet. Ron Knackstedt, who is the director of marketing and sales for Xclusive, said that more than 20 trucks have confirmed they’ll be there, and they’ll set up along Wichita Street between The Boathouse and the WaterWalk Fountains. (Peruse the list of trucks below.)
Friday’s event is more than just a food truck rally, though. Xclusive’s Final Friday parties also include local artists set up inside the Boathouse selling their wares, and nearly 20 will be there this week, Knackstedt said. Other vendors also will be there, as will Xclusive’s green booze truck. Dangie Music will perform from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Knackstedt said the Final Friday parties started off smaller two years ago but have continued to gain popularity. Liz Bathgate of Big B’s Beef organizes the food truck portion of the event, and the number of food vendors continues to grow.
Food truck fans have found the event and made it a destination.
“Last month, almost every food truck sold out of food,” Knackstedt said.
Xclusive plans to continue putting on its Final Friday parties at the Boathouse through October then will take a winter break and resume in March.
Also: Funky Monkey Munchies’ owner Lisa Palacios, the founder of the Night at the Fountains rally, said she’s trying to work out a deal with the new managers of Wichita WaterWalk and hopes to put on a September version of the event. She briefly tried to relocate her rally to Delano earlier this spring, but that plan didn’t work out.
Here’s the list of trucks committed for Friday:
- Taters n Toppings
- Brazita Bites
- Big B’s Beef
- U-Hungry TRUCK
- The Artichoke Sandwichbar
- Chaooo Beef Jerky
- Primos Food Truck
- Funky Monkey Munchies
- Noble House Hawaiian Plate Lunch
- ICTea
- Osaka Eki ICT
- Xclusive Booze Truck
- The Wing Express
- Smokin Diner
- Mook’s Foods
- The Big Nerd
- Bongo Fruit Smoothies
- The Popcorner East Wichita
- Roxie’s on the River
- Busy B’s
- Cousin Hector’s
- Xclusive Booze Truck
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 12:05 PM.
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