Meg Armentrout and a “truckload” of volunteers are preparing for the first Searcy Food Truck Festival, which will feature a dunking booth, activities for children, music, a petting zoo, inflatables and more.
Set for 4 p.m. June 3 at the Searcy Event Center, the festival’s vendors will include J & M Meat Market, Dickey’s BBQ, Slader’s Alaskan Dumpling Co., Kona Ice, Say Cheese Food Truck, Hot Rod Wieners and Ascenino’s Grill.
Armentrout, the festival’s coordinator, said she’s excited about bringing an event like this to Searcy.
“The festival will be sponsored by local businesses in the area,” Armentrout said. “We want to be sure that it is understood that this is not a city-of-Searcy-sponsored event, and no taxpayer dollars have been spent.”
Employees from the Searcy Code Enforcement office and Searcy Parks and Recreation are spearheading the event, she said.
“I’ve met many great people at work, and I kept telling them we need to have a food truck festival. People have told me they think we need to have one as well, so we finally asked the mayor if he’d allow us to,” she said.
Sponsors include Think Idea Studio, Zion Climbing, Homer’s Ace Hardware, Yarnell’s Ice Cream, First Community Bank, RiverWind Bank, AJ’s Art Studio, Quattlebaum Music and First Security Bank, among others.
“I love food trucks,” Armentrout said. “They’re cheap, quick, and I’d love to see more food trucks come to Searcy.
“I’ve never spoken to anyone who said they didn’t like food trucks. I’m coordinating the event, but it’s because everyone I’ve spoken to has voiced how excited they are about food trucks coming to town.”
Armentrout said she has been planning the festival since March and has skipped lunch breaks to spend time pulling the event together.
“Food trucks are trending right now, and we really just wanted to bring something fun and different to Searcy,” she said. “I hope the event eventually becomes one of the biggest food truck festivals in the state.”
Armentrout said money raised at the event will be donated to the Child Safety Center in Searcy, excluding money made by the food truck vendors.
She said multiple people have volunteered to be dunked in the dunking booth, including White County Judge Michael Lincoln, White County Sheriff Ricky Shourd, Searcy Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Andy Woody and Harding University’s head men’s basketball coach, Jeff Morgan.
All proceeds from the dunking booth will go to the Child Safety Center.
Armentrout said Yarnell’s will donate free ice cream sandwiches, Walmart will give away baked goods and have a face-painting booth, Chick-fil-A will have a food wheel to spin and balloons to give away, Homer’s Ace Hardware will give away popcorn, AJ’s Art Studio will have a painting class set up for children, and the Fire Department will be at the festival with its smoke house for children to go through.
Sam’s Club and Adventure Kids Dental will also have booths at the festival, she said.
Costumed characters will entertain children throughout the evening, including the Chick-fil-A cow, the Searcy Fire Department’s fire dog and the White County Sheriff’s Office’s Deputy Dan.
“I have young children, so I want Searcy to be known for these types of festivals,” Armentrout said. “We’re not charging vendors to set up or charging admission. It’s all about growing Searcy into a place people want to visit and showing off our amazing local businesses.
“Everyone seems to be excited. I haven’t heard any negative feedback about the event.”
Brian Bostic, co-owner of the Say Cheese food truck, said he and his partner, Trent Moss, launched Say Cheese in March of this year.
Moss said their business is based in Cabot, but they travel and participate in events.
Bostic said they’re excited to be part of the Searcy Food Truck Festival, as friends and followers in Searcy have supported their business from the beginning.
“When we got approached about being in the festival, we were glad to be a part of that town,” Bostic said.
Say Cheese serves what Bostic calls “gourmet grilled-cheese” sandwiches.
The “Say Cheese” sandwich has American and Swiss cheese on it, then it’s put on the griddle with Gruyere cheese that forms a crust on the outside of the bread, he said.
The truck also offers a jalapeno popper sandwich, a roast-beef specialty sandwich and the Full Monte sandwich, inspired by Bennigan’s, among other items.
Moss said his favorite sandwich is the Full Monte, made with turkey, ham, American cheese and Swiss cheese, deep-fried and topped with powdered sugar and raspberry jam.
“We like being able to cook what we like to cook,” Bostic said. “We get to be creative in what we’re doing. If we’re having a slow day, we’ll experiment with new things to freshen up the menu.”
Bostic said he and Moss like being at events and feeling the energy from all of the people who are there.
“I’m more than excited about the food truck festival,” Moss said.
“Business has just been taking off since we started doing this. I love to cook, and I love to put a smile on people’s faces when they eat my food. We have a lot of new sandwiches coming, we’re having fun, and we hope everyone can enjoy the food,” he said.
“We like the idea of being able to move around and meet different people. We want to take our food to different places and let everybody try it,” Moss said.
“It seems like the volunteers in Searcy are trying to reach out and do something for their community,” Bostic said, “and we like being a part of that.”
Staff writer Kayla Baugh can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or kbaugh@arkansasonline.com.