Food truck festival plan for LaSalle Park is moving forward

Appetite is growing for a food truck festival at LaSalle Park, and a tentative date has been set for this summer.

According to Partnering Aldershot and Street Eats Market owner Philip Suos, the event has received conditional approval from the City of Burlington to secure the Aldershot park for June 21 to 23.

“We’re going through the application process and we got confirmation a couple of days ago where it's conditionally approved,” Suos told BurlingtonToday last Friday (Jan. 12).  

The LaSalle Park festival is a new venture organized by Street Eats Market, which operates events throughout the GTA, including in Toronto, Mississauga, Whitby and Markham. Suos, an Aldershot resident, is excited to bring the format to his hometown.

“We've always wanted to do things in Burlington; the issue was just timing,” he said. 

The opportunity to explore doing a new local event arose last fall after city council denied the Burlington Food Truck Festival permission to operate in Spencer Smith Park going forward. The longtime waterfront event is operated by Canadian Food Truck Festivals and traditionally takes place the third weekend in July. 

With the future of the Burlington festival up in the air as they look for a new location on potentially the same July weekend, the Street Eats team decided to  book a date at LaSalle in June, said Suos.

“The  timing is good;  kids are still around just before they go scrambling everywhere for the summer,” he said. “And it’s the right park for that, as well.”

LaSalle Park offers 75,000 square feet of space, which will accommodate 40 vendors, featuring both trucks and stalls. Entertainment will include a stage with live performances, outdoor movie nights, bouncy castles and buskers, along with some more traditional family activities.

“That's quite a bit of space so we can kind of do more things,” said Suos. “I kind of want to bring it back to having old-school games like potato sack races and tug of war.”

Suos noted that he is working on a parking plan for the weekend; there will be some spots available on site with preference for guests with accessibility needs, and he is working to implement a shuttle from nearby facilities such as Aldershot High School or local plazas. 

“So I'm going to work with…Partnering Aldershot and the councillor …and the Aldershot BIA to tackle this whole thing,” he said. “Parking will be our number one priority.”

Aldershot BIA Executive Director Andrea Dodd noted the organization isn't directly involved in the Street Eats project, but is aware of the festival plans.

“It is not a BIA event but we will support it by getting our members involved at whatever level they choose,” she said in an email to BurlingtonToday.

Jim Young, chair of Partnering Aldershot, said the event will bring a lot of visitors and revenue into the city’s west end. 

“I’m feeling very positive about it,” he said, noting that the application to the city was submitted two months ago and the approval is conditional on environmental and other studies. “The city took a look at it, and said there’s nothing to prevent it; maybe parking, but we’re looking at shuttles for the weekend.”

If the June festival goes according to plan, Suos is eying a second event, his signature Mac & Cheese Festival, at LaSalle Park in September.

“I brought it down to Milton one year and it was completely bonkers, with shops and restaurants all competing to make gourmet mac and cheese.

“I’m a local resident and I've been wanting to do things for a long time here in Burlington.”