What's left for 2024:
Bismarck Food Truck Festival Sept. 6th-8th
ABOUT
our festivals
A humble start...
Food trucks were hard to come by in 2013.
North Dakota's very first Food Truck Festival was held in September of 2013 at the North Dakota Horse Park. "To say we were ahead of our time, was an understatement." Says Mike Schmitz, event founder. "It was a one day event, plus it rained." He added. Things really took off in 2015 and that led to the addition of the first Bismarck event, the same Fall.
Things began to grow...
As food trucks become more available, the demand grows.
Over the years, the popularity for food trucks has grown immensely in the region. That, has fueled the craving from North Dakota "Foodies" to more diverse menus, selection and creativity from 4 wheel eateries.
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This renaissance has also helped grow our Festivals, not only in size and attendance, but with creative culinary events inside of our events like:
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The "Bloody Mary Matchup"- Where event goers purchase their Bloody Mary from the event bar,
then build their own Bloody Mary Masterpiece with their own custom combination of $2 topping skewers from participating food vendors.
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The "Makin' Bacon" Challenge- Select Food Truck operators create a limited time menu item utilizing the greatest food staple know to man, Bacon! Dishes are judged by a panel of "Bacon Junkies" on such things as creativity, presentation and most important, flavor.
and new for 2020,
The Sweet Tooth Taste Test- Opening day is going to be sweeter than ever, (in addition to free lunch admission) a number of our trucks will create a sweet treat for only $3 exclusively for the festival's first day. Bring your friends, we're keeping this one at only a few bucks so you can share several of the entries!
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2020, what a year...
In the middle of the craziest year in over a Century,
events canceled everywhere. But we grew.
At the start of the pandemic, we began the (2+) month process of planning some version of an event. It needed to met state guidelines and more importantly, overcame patron's uncertainty and exceeded expectations. Enter the Fargo Drive-Thru Only Food Truck Festival. We relied on years of experience producing food events and a lot of innovation to successfully (and safely) host the state's first major event since the shutdown.
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Next came another first, the birth of the Fargo Pop-Up Food Truck Fest. This new concept was the initial occurrence of an off-site event in a market we already served. Again, just a smaller and safer experience than a full-scale festival, but boy did it deliver. ​
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Successful execution of our festival variations and confidence navigating through an uncertain time, allowed us to plan a full fledged Fargo Food Truck Fest in July and it's sister culinary celebration (Bismarck) in Sept. It also led to the launch of our next full festival host city,
Grand Forks, ND!
We'd been looking at Greater Grand Forks for years, and now it's
one of our annual stops. Maybe next year it'll be your town.
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We continue to expand our reach
& feed the masses...
As 2021 came, there was a sense of things changing. But would our foodie fans be ready to return in full force?
The community deserved events to start attending again. Vendors were eager to start recovering from an "everything's cancelled" year. Enter FM Frosted Drive-Thru Food Truck Fest. For the first time we ventured across state lines with a next twist on one of last year's firsts. A cold weather drive-thru festival! The gamble paid off in a big way, as ticket sales exceeded even the previous summer's drive-thru event.
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Almost simultaneously, another thing happened. Our Food Truck booking service took off. Fast. It seemed that everyone wanted Food Trucks for, well everything... We continue to field requests for our partner trucks and carts, daily. 701foodtrucks.com/bookatruck​
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Early success in 2021 presented the opportunity to bring the show to the road, to another great 701 market,
Dickinson, ND!
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We couldn't think of a better host location for our new Food Truck Rodeo concept. Check it out if you're in Southwest North Dakota at the end of Septmeber.
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What's next?
As the mobile food scene continues to evolve, so will we.
Who knows what's in store in the years to come. What is certain, is we will continue to grow with the changes and continue to build on events. Perhaps, more events in more communities. Maybe new competitions for the vendors to showcase their creative culinary skills.
Want to grow with us? Interested in bring our Food Truck Rodeo or Carnival of Flavor concepts to your city or event? We'd love to hear from you!
Contact Mike @ mikeschmitz@701foodtrucks.com
