Citing the continuing coronavirus pandemic, Downtown Little Rock Partnership has called off the 10th annual Main Street Food Truck Festival, scheduled for Sept. 20 in downtown Little Rock.
“We were proud to celebrate a decade of this downtown tradition that has become so much more than just a food festival,” the organization said in a Monday Facebook post announcing the cancellation. “Unfortunately, the universe had other plans.”
“Our planning committee came to the conclusion that the pandemic was not slowing down, and we just didn’t want to contribute to the spread,” said Director of Communications Ellen Lampe.
“We tried to map out a safe distance between trucks, but it would have been very hard to make people social-distance, and they wouldn’t be able to eat or drink while wearing masks — and eating and drinking is what this festival is all about.”
Lampe said the Downtown Partnership will still label the 2021 festival as the “10th annual” despite the break in direct sequence.
The festival has involved closing off Main Street between Third and Ninth streets and Capitol Avenue between Main and Spring streets. The 2019 festival featured more than 80 food trucks from across the South, with vendors, biergartens and live entertainment, and tens of thousands of visitors.