Beach Food Fridays and Saturdays are back at the Esquimalt Lagoon.
With social distancing measures in place, food trucks and their owners are once again lining Marine Drive, and are loving it.
“It feels great. We didn’t think we were going to have a season and we’re ready to be here with the City of Colwood as long as they’ll have us,” says Road Treasure Treats owner Richard Brooks.
“Yesterday was super busy. People just glad that we’re back, all the food trucks down here. Everyone was social distancing they wanted to keep going,” adds Molly’s British Fish & Chips owner Paul Kingston.
The food trucks will be on rotation each week to add some variety.
The return of the Beach Food event has been a welcome relief for businesses that have been struggling through COVID-19.
“A lot of events canceled months ago, so everything is a bonus now and we hope it continues throughout the whole summer,” says Brooks. His ice cream truck is operational during the spring and summer, and took a major hit when the majority of events were canceled.
“I think I’m one of the lucky ones because we work all year round, we keep going. Whereas a lot of the food trucks they close down over the wintertime come out in April expecting everything to go on and obviously nothing! So I mean you feel for some of them because the lot of them are struggling for sure,” says Kingston, who had to let go of some staff members but has recently started to bring some back.
The festival has locals leaving with smiling faces and their cravings satisfied.
“Looking forward to trying the fish and chips. Great weather, just a great experience,” says Paul Egli, an area resident passing by the beach on his daily walk.
It’s a pretty sweet way to spend a weekend.
Cole Sorenson
