Mayor’s Monday Mailbag – March 4, 2024 – What's Happening With The Burlington Food Truck Festival?
Welcome to the Mayor’s Monday Mailbag, an initiative Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and the Mayor’s Office launched to share weekly answers to questions from the public we’ve received through our main email inbox at mayor@burlington.ca or the Mayor’s social media platforms.At the end of the month, we publish a roundup of those most pressing questions we’ve received in the weeks prior.
Mayor’s Monday Mailbag – March 4, 2024QUESTION:"What's happening with the Burlington Food Truck Festival?”ANSWER:Burlington’s Food Truck Festival has been taking place in July at Spencer Smith Park yearly since 2016. In the first few years of operation, the event was well received by both residents and downtown businesses. Since the pandemic, Burlington’s Food Truck Festival event has been brought before Council due to concerns expressed by the Burlington Downtown Business Association (BDBA) and the Burlington Restaurant Association (BRA). They both expressed that the event negatively impacts their businesses.In October 2023, Council approved the following motions from report RCC 16-32 Food Truck Festival:
- Direct the City Manager and the Manager of Festivals & Events to decline future Burlington Food Truck Festival applications for Spencer Smith Park effective 2024; and
- Encourage the event organizers to continue to work with staff to find a suitable location in Burlington.
Following this decision by Council, staff have had numerous conversations as well as coordinated site visits with the Event Organizer to find a suitable location to continue hosting their event in Burlington. With the delay in the construction project at Burloak Park, the Event Organizer has decided to host in Burloak Park for Summer 2024. They are aware the construction is scheduled to commence Spring 2025.The event is still in the planning phase.As a next step, the City's Festivals & Events office is required to conduct a community consultation due to the event having a significant change, in this case, the location. A community consultation is completed to ensure residents are provided information about what to expect in their local community, the impacts of the event and provide feedback accordingly. The community consultation is expected to take place early in 2024.Planning is underway for the event to take place July 19-21, 2024. Staff will continue to work with the event organizer and members of the Special Events Team to lead this event through the City's Special Event Process.The Event Organizer was immediately drawn to the beautiful lakefront feature of this park and looks forward to hosting the Burlington Food Truck Festival at this location.
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