By Eric Pera | TheLedger.com
LAKELAND | Caught in a moment of rapture, Chris Bass’ face said volumes, and it spoke to the city’s long-term goals for drawing more of his kind downtown — college students and twentysomethings.
Looking for cheap eats, Bass, 22, a Polk State College sophomore, joined hundreds of people of all ages Thursday night at Lakeland’s first monthly food truck rally at Munn Park.
The 6-9 p.m. event, sponsored in part by the Downtown Lakeland Partnership, will be repeated the second Thursday of each month for the foreseeable future, officials said.
“Dandy,” said Bass, munching eagerly on a grilled cheese sandwich taken to gluttonous heights with pulled pork, grilled onions and, for an extra $1.50, bacon.
“I like it — it’s good food,” he said between bites. “There’s not that many places like this around Lakeland that I know of … and I’m tired of McDonald’s.”
Fourteen food trucks lined the east and west sides of downtown’s Munn Park, stirring the chilled air with noisy generators. The occasional train rumbling through added to the cacophony.
No one seemed to mind, especially Dana Kelly, who teaches a gifted program at Highlands Grove Elementary School and was reveling in a gourmet taco laden with duck confit.
“Excellent, A-plus!” she said. “I think this will really catch on. What a wonderful thing on a cold night. There’s moms and kids, and I ran into some of my students.”
Thursday night’s turnout exceeded the expectations of Tiffany Logan, executive director of the downtown partnership, a nonprofit agency that advocates for merchants and organizes special events to build foot traffic.
“I think it’s safe to say we can do a monthly event,” she said. “One of our main goals was to get foot traffic downtown, and college students and young professionals, and show them there is cool stuff downtown.”
