Food lovers from far and wide descended on Flint Hills Mall Saturday for a new and delicious event.
The first annual Food Truck Food-A-Palooza welcomed hungry visitors to the mall parking lot throughout the day. Seven food trucks took part in the event including Gustoso’s (goo-STOH-sohs), Two Dudes Food, Jack’s Snack Shack, Lazy Butt BBQ, Mis Antojitos, Grab-n-Go Hot Dogs and Poppin For You Too.
Mall manager Clarence Frye says over 500 people attended the day’s event which wildly exceeded his expectations. Each of the vendors kept 100 percent of the day’s proceeds and Frye says while there was no immediate financial profit for the mall, he’s confident they’ll see a steady increase in foot traffic as a direct result of the event.
Each of the vendors were not only on the scene to sell some delicious eats, but they were also competing to see who stood above the others. Vendors competed in two categories, mall’s choice and people’s choice.
Lazy Butt Barbecue took home the people’s choice award with 27 percent of the vote. Owner Karl Baker says the Lazy Butt crew are no strangers to taking home awards for their food having claimed numerous state, national and even world recognition for their barbecue.
With that said, Baker says this win might be just a bit sweeter than some of the others.
Two Dudes Food took home the mall’s choice award with a majority of the judge’s vote. Travis Hitt of Two Dudes says being a part of the event was a great experience especially when you consider “everything going on in the world right now.”
Both trucks received a trophy and $50 cash prizes for their victories.
Frye tells KVOE News he and his team will be meeting this week to discuss the event and possibly plan for more installments in the future.
Photos by Tagan Trahoon/KVOE News
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