Aurora’s food truck festival scene is growing again, with the introduction of a summer food truck event on Friday, July 18, in the city’s downtown.
The city of Aurora’s Special Events Division will hold the summer Food Truck Festival beginning at 5 p.m. July 18 on Benton Street between River and Broadway.
The summer event will join the longstanding spring Food Truck Festival held a couple of months ago during the first week in May, and the fall Food Truck Festival to be held in September. The autumn version was held for the first time last year.
Christina DiCristofano, community events coordinator for this year’s fests, said there were somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 people that came out to last fall’s Food Truck Festival, which gave fuel to the idea of expanding the number of food truck events in 2025.
“We’re having our new summer fest on the 18th of July and one in the fall on the 26th of September,” she said. “We’ve increased the numbers because we want to provide more opportunities for business owners – all the food vendors and trucks that are really trying to get out there in the community and be present and have opportunity. That’s one of the main reasons.
“Last year was the first time we had one in the fall, so once we had that one we really reevaluated the event, and realized how successful it was and how much people enjoyed the festival,” DiCristofano added. “We pivoted after that and started looking into the idea of doing an extra one and giving more opportunity to the vendors and giving people the chance to come down to Aurora and be in our downtown area.”
DiCristofano said that “people in Aurora and outside of Aurora really love this event and food trucks and being able to come out and enjoy some nice food.”
The summer food truck fest will feature more than 30 options – the same as the May food truck fest – with a few new vendors replacing some that appeared earlier.
“We have about half a dozen new vendors this time, and we want to offer people another opportunity to gather and have another event where they can do so and have a good time,” DiCristofano said of the upcoming summer fest. “We do try to showcase businesses here in Aurora and vendors that are Aurora-based, but I do try to mix it up and make sure we don’t have things stagnant and keep things fresh and new, so we do have some new vendors. I plan to also have some new ones in the fall.”
The event on July 18 will be held rain or shine unless there is severe weather.
More Top Picks Best Slant Boards For Handwriting
For more information on the summer Food Truck Festival, go to www.aurora.il.us/Recreation-and-Amenities/Events/Special-Events/Food-Truck-Fest.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.