Weather permitting, Reid’s Orchard plans to have food trucks during the lunch crowd every weekend of Sept. and Oct. while Reidland Play Area is open. Valerie Reid Reel, events coordinator at Reid’s said that on the weekends, horse and pony rides and a petting zoo will also be available.
In previous years when Reidland Play Area was open, Reel’s husband grilled burgers and hot dogs midday for those who came to the orchard to play and shop. But with three children under age ten, his race schedule and job that could pull him away, adding a lunch service became too much for them.
The play area pass is a full-day pass but people were leaving around lunchtime or waiting until after lunch because there weren’t many options for food, so Reel decided to outsource the food and also help the food truck community establish locations they could announce to their followers on specific weekends.
“A lot of these food trucks have followers,” said Reel.
The idea for the trucks during these two months evolved from several food truck owner’s interests in vendor availability at Apple Festival, held in October at the orchard. Reel limits the food vendors for the festival because she does not want more than two of the same thing, making it difficult to have a spot with the rise of trucks now available.
Reel wants the food trucks to be successful and plans to have one to three food trucks each weekend initially.
“Two will be food and one will be sweets,” she said of the plan for weekends.
The food trucks do not coincide with festivals on weekends — Reid’s only hosts one major festival — but rather days that families can come and spend the day at the farm.
“I have families I look for every year – they come every weekend [when Reidland is open],” said Reel. “Sometimes they come both days — like they are going to ‘their’ farm. I just want people to come out and have a good time,” Reel said.
