Food truck festival launches holiday festivities

By Alberto Gilman
Posted 7/6/22

In preparation for the anticipated fireworks display along the waterfront in the evening, City of Newburgh residents enjoyed local food and flavor from noon till 11 p.m. at the first annual Food …

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Food truck festival launches holiday festivities

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In preparation for the anticipated fireworks display along the waterfront in the evening, City of Newburgh residents enjoyed local food and flavor from noon till 11 p.m. at the first annual Food Truck Festival along Broadway on Sunday, July 3.

The first annual Food Truck Festival was created and hosted by the local organization Newburgh [NB] Pop Culture, Inc., under the direction of Sonya Grant, Ronnie Fisher and Marcus Simmons, all residents of the City of Newburgh. NB Pop Culture, Inc is currently in the process of attaining 501(c)(3) status according to Grant. The Food Truck Festival was also supported by the City of Newburgh and Grant offered thanks to Mayor Torrance Harvey, who had connected the three of them together. Harvey and Councilman Anthony Grice made an appearance at the festival and spoke with city residents as they went about their day getting food.

“What a lovely day. I’m just excited for this opportunity to have worked with these two great guys [Fisher & Simmons],” Grant said.

For Simmons, the day was a positive day and a day to highlight and give the community of the city something to be proud of and enjoy. “We always focus on the negative. Love that we, you know, doing something for our community,” Simmons said.

Food trucks and vendors featured for the festival that day included Real Spice, Empanada O’Nada, Fish n Chips, Reggae Boy Cafe and Big Drip, which sold ices. Local radio station, K104.7, which featured a radio promotion for the festival several days before, was also present at the festival.

Talking about the festival, Grant shared that this overall idea was meant to spotlight entrepreneurship here in the City of Newburgh and according to Grant, this event took three months to prepare. “Today [July 3] is all about celebrating community, unity and opportunity,” Grant said.

Reflecting on the last two years, Simmons shared that it has been difficult but people were able to make it through with starting or expanding new ventures or businesses. Simmons also reflected on the recent difficulties with the food trucks here in the city so now this event today gives those businesses the opportunity to be here and recognized. Several months ago, food trucks that had been operating on Broadway but were told by the city to move off of Broadway now operate in various lots or parts of the city. These movements caused frustration for the vendors but the City was looking to reinforce several of their codes and laws going forward. Codes and laws pertaining to food truck vendors can be found on the city website for review.

For Fisher, this event from NB Pop Culture has offered a snippet of what is to come from the organization. The growing entrepreneurial culture in the City of Newburgh is what NB Pop Culture hopes to highlight and share with everyone. “There’s a lot of change going on in Newburgh,” Simmons said.

The festival continued on throughout the day with residents and visitors stopping at each of the trucks, waiting for the fireworks to go off later that evening.

“The best is yet to come,” Grant said.