Riverfest a feast of craft beer, burgers, barbecue

The traditional foods sold at the Wichita Riverfest – roasted corn, funnel cakes, fried pickles and chicken on a stick – are big enough draws on their own.

But this year, festival organizers have added a hunger-inducing list of new food options, and you’ll likely need this story to navigate them.

A new barbecue food truck. The return of burgers to the main food court. Local craft beer tastings. A wine tent. White Castle burgers. All are on the menu for this year’s festival.

Here’s a guide to what’s new.

White Castle: The original White Castle opened in Wichita in 1921, but the city no longer has any of the restaurants, which specialize in square-shaped sliders. The burgers will come home during Riverfest. The restaurant will set up its mobile unit at the south food court, which sits just east of the Wichita Boathouse, 515 S. Wichita. It will be serving classic sliders and sliders with cheese every day of the festival except Monday and Tuesday and will open at 11 a.m. on weekends and 4 p.m. on weekdays. Sliders will be 4 for $5 or 4 for $6 with cheese.

Payne’s Rollin Grill: A new Wichita food truck is officially opening for business at Riverfest. Derrick Payne, who ran Payne’s Place Barbecue near Central and Hillside from 2007 to 2010, is opening Payne’s Rollin Grill. It will be set up in a big box truck decorated with a brick motif, and he’ll sell smoked brisket, pulled pork, hot links and sides. He also has two unique offerings: beef ribs and burger dogs, which are hotdogs encased in ground beef. He will set up in Ackerman’s Backyard, which is in A. Price Woodard Park, 401 W. Douglas, throughout the festival. After the festival, he’ll launch on the streets and join the rest of the food truck fleet.

Local craft beer: Wichita’s growing collection of local craft beer makers are getting involved in Riverfest this year. During happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m. on weekdays in Ackerman’s Backyard, one brewery a day will set up and sell four samples plus 2 pints, for $20. Monday will be Hopping Gnome Brewing, Tuesday is River City Brewing Co., Wednesday is Central Standard Brewing, Thursday is Wichita Brewing Co, and Friday is Walnut River Brewing Company.

Wine tent: Barefoot Wine is a sponsor at this year’s festival, and it will have a tent set up daily (except the first Friday and Monday) on Kennedy Plaza on Douglas next to Century II. It will offer pinot noir, pinot grigio, white spritzer, red spritzer and red or white sangria in a souvenir cup.

Tap truck: Last year was the first year for the craft beer tap truck on Kennedy Plaza, and it was such a success, it’s coming back. It’ll be run by The Bars’ Open and will be tucked under the awning of Century II adjacent to Kennedy Plaza selling beers like New Belgium’s Snapshot and Heavy Melon, Odell’s IPA and 90 Shilling, Oskar Blues’ Dale’s Pale Ale and Berrito, Tallgrass’ Buffalo Sweat and Deshutes Fresh Squeezed IPA. Beers from the tap truck will be $6.

Other adult beverage spots: Budweiser is again bringing a “pop-up lounge,” complete with big-screen TVs, that it will set up near the main food court. On the opening weekend, Deshutes Brewery out of Oregon will set up a street pub at Ackerman’s Backyard. Bars also will be set up near the WaterWalk food court and, on certain nights, right on Douglas, and mobile vendors will roam the crowds with drink carts throughout the festival

Main food court, Century II Drive: The main food court will be selling burgers for the first time in years, said Ann Keefer, who organizes food vendors for the festival. Big G’s, which made its festival debut last year, is bringing a second booth to the main food court that will specialize in burgers, including a couple of unusual ones. (Glazed doughnut bacon cheeseburger, anyone?) It will also serve fries, chicken fingers, cheese on a stick and hotdogs. Otherwise, the main food court will have all its usual vendors back, including Chan’s Concessions, Hoopingarner’s Funnel Cake, Hoopingarner’s Philly Steak, Made 2 Grill, Tad’s Cajun Chicken, Dippin’ Dots, Mario’s, Tad’s Bodacious Burrito, and Cappuccino Connection. The main food court opens daily at 11 a.m.

South food court, east of the Wichita Boathouse: The festival’s secondary food court will be split up into two sections this year. The northern half will have White Castle and a new vendor called The Silver Spur, which has rib-eye steak sandwiches, burgers, Philly cheese steak nachos, Cajun fried pickles and more. Kona Ice, a shaved-ice truck, also will be there. The south end will have several Bribiesca concessions trailers, which sell pizza by the slice, nachos, funnel cakes, cotton candy, caramel apples and more. The south food court area opens at 11 a.m. on weekends and 4 p.m. on weekdays.

Other eating events: The Cajun Food Fest, a fundraiser for Goodwill Industries, will be 5 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday on Century II’s Kennedy Plaza. For $8, button wearers can get a plate of Cajun goodness that includes red beans and rice and more. Add bread pudding for $3, or pay $10 for both. And the popular Hiland Dairy Ice Cream Social, which offers attendees free vanilla ice cream and toppings, will be 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday at the intersection of Douglas and Water. The Admirals Pancake Feed is $8 a person and happens from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday near the RedGuard stage area.

Eating contests: The eighth annual race to ingest as many funnel cakes as possible in 10 minutes will happen at 3 p.m. on June 11 on the food court stage. And a chicken wing-eating contest happens at 7 p.m. Sunday on the food court stage. KQAM and KGSO began offering listeners a chance to sign up on-air for the funnel cake contest starting June 1. Any remaining open spots will be filled on-site starting at 2:30 p.m. Participants in the chicken wing contest can sign up on site. The contest is limited to 12 people.

Johnsonville Big Taste Grill, which churns out 2,000 brats an hour, will be selling at the RedGuard Stage area from Friday through Sunday of opening weekend. It opens at 4 p.m. Friday and at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. It will also serve brats to people who finish the RiverRun.

This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Riverfest a feast of craft beer, burgers, barbecue."