Food Truck Festival returns to Pickering’s Esplanade Park this weekend

Loosen your belts and bring the food bags out of storage: the Pickering Food Truck Festival returns to Esplanade Park this weekend.

The downtown park will be transformed into a family-friendly food truck heaven Friday through Sunday with more than two dozen food trucks offering treats from around the world, including Venezuelan, Jamaican, Vietnamese and even Greek-Korean fusion.

The festival will also be jam-packed with a children’s village, a beer garden, eating challenges and live entertainment on the stage with tunes from Haddix, Just Journey, Acoustic on Fire and other musical acts.

Best of all, it’s free, with the festival kicking off Friday at 5 p.m. Foodies can also enjoy tasty delights Saturday from noon to nine p.m. and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m.

Food trucks at this year’s festival offer something for everyone, including vegetarian, vegan, halal and gluten-free:

• 6 Spice Rack, Athens Seoul Souvlaki Fusion, Churros by Rebozos, Tayrona Catering
• Buster’s Sea Cove, Gourmet Guyz, Happy Twist, Heavenly Dreams Ice Dream, Super Churros
• Esau Parillo BBQ, Alfie’s Lemonade, HK Station, Jerk Brothers, Communal Eats
• Northern Smokes, Philthy Philly’s, Rebozos Taqueria, Team Mate, Kathi Roll Express
• The Arepa Republic, Los Vietamita, Tropic Love, BeaverTails Pastry, D&L Village Juicery, Tornado Fries

The Esplanade North and South and a portion of the Pickering Civic Complex parking lot will be closed for the festival.