By Will Hutchison | ABC 7 News
KSWO, Lawton, OK- Wichita Falls, TX: News, Weather, Sports. ABC, 24/7, Telemundo –
ALTUS, OK (KSWO) -The Altus Chamber of Commerce is doing its part to liven up lunchtime across the city.
The Chamber of Commerce has launched a weekly event called Food Truck Friday. Each week, the location of the event and the trucks serving food at the event will change. The Chamber is talking with food truck owners all over the state to bring the citizens of Altus food that the city doesn’t already offer.
Food Truck Friday is just taking off in Altus, but it definitely seems like an event that could really thrive.
“Last week, I got to see lots of pictures posted around Facebook of showing what they got and it looked really good and just how cool it was to have it here in Altus,” said Melissa Smith, food truck patron.
Melissa and Justin Smith live in Altus and say once they saw all their friends sharing pictures last week, coming this week was an easy decision
“I’m a huge barbecue fan, so she sent me a picture of the barbecue and a picture of the menu and I said ‘sounds good, let’s go,’” Justin Smith said.
There was a constant line since this food truck opened. The Chamber of Commerce is hoping to grow the event exponentially, and have several food trucks out there each Friday. But for this week, they’ll just have to deal with only having barbecue.
Loran Mayes is the member of the Altus Chamber of Commerce who came up with the idea for Food Truck Friday. She says they only have one truck right now, but they have been talking to several others.
“I would love four to five food trucks at a time. Just to keep a manageable amount to make sure each food truck does well and that sometimes we can trade those out so that everyone gets to come and visit,” Mayes said.
She says the food truck involvement doesn’t just stop with them showing up to events. Each food truck owner will pay to be a member of the Altus Chamber of Commerce, which allows them to inject that money directly back into local businesses. On top of that, since they are selling in Altus, a portion of the sales tax will go to the city.
Altus. (Source KSWO)
“I think it’s little things like this that make us love our town even more, and so for people to invest in our town and to come to us to us it just ignites a little excitement and opportunities for more growth for us,” Mayes said.
“This is awesome, there’s so many cool things coming to Altus. We’re excited about this and I’ve heard there’s more food trucks coming, so we’re excited about that,” said Melissa Smith.
“Fill the parking lot up with some different opportunities to have lunch,” said Justin Smith.
The food truck was at Jackson County Memorial Hospital this week, and Mayes says it was exciting to get to offer a different meal to the hospital employees who can’t always get away for lunch.
The food truck will be at the Chamber of Commerce the first Friday of every month and at Jackson County Memorial Hospital the second Friday of every month. The third and fourth Fridays will be at other places in different parts of town to ensure everyone gets an opportunity to enjoy it.
http://www.kswo.com/story/31212115/food-truck-friday-rolls-into-altus
