Visitors enjoyed last year’s first Shepherd’s Pantry Food Truck Festival in Moundsville. The lineup for this year’s festival includes The Gringos Taco Truck and Izzy’s Food Truck. (Photo provided)
Due to popular demand from Moundsville residents, Shepherd’s Pantry’s second annual Food Truck Festival is back, offering hungry visitors a variety of local fare, from tacos to barbecue.
The festival will take place today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot of the Simpson United Methodist Church, where the five food trucks will also be housed.
“We asked to have the festival again because when we did it last year, everyone was there to socialize and have fun,” said James Barlip, Shepherd’s Pantry board president. “The city manager (Rick Healy) said it was a great event because it brings people together, so I thought, why not keep it going?”
The participating food trucks are Izzy’s Food Truck, Shreff’s Hometown BBQ, Dr. Sweet, Ig’s Piggs BBQ and The Gringo Taco Truck. Barlip added that Dr. Sweet would bring two food trailers to the event, so the festival would offer both a lemonade stand and a dessert truck to satisfy attendees’ sweet tooth with fried Oreos and other sweet fare.
“Shreff’s Hometown BBQ and Dr. Sweets are two trucks that are returning from last year,” Barlip said. “I will try to move trucks to the festival every year because I want to include a lot of these local businesses and get them known in the community. I want residents to try valley foods they may have never heard of.”
Barlip added that the food trucks participating in the festival this year are also using the event to reach residents who may not have previously tried their wares.
Barlip could vouch for the quality of the food at this year’s participating trucks, noting that the redneck spring roll he had at Shreff’s Hometown BBQ Truck last year was “delicious.” The redneck spring roll consists of coleslaw, pulled pork and gravy wrapped in an egg roll that is then deep fried.
“I’m not sure what ingredients went into that spring roll, but all I know is that it melted in my mouth when I bit into it,” Barlip recalls. “It was delicious.”
In addition to promoting business and local food trucks, the festival also serves as a fundraiser for Shepherd’s Pantries. Each participating food truck can choose what percentage of its sales it wants to donate to the organization to help cover the cost of clothing and food the organization provides to low-income families in the area.
“I leave it up to the food truck owners how much they donate to our organization because I know they need to make a profit to continue to grow their business,” Barlip noted. “I don’t want to embarrass them by saying, ‘You have to donate this much.’ I leave it up to the business so they can feel good about what they donated, and I feel good about the amount they donated because it came from the heart.”
Donations from last year’s festival were used to purchase personal items and food for Shepherd’s Pantry clients, and Barlip said this year’s funds will be used for similar purposes.
“We feel that at Shepherd’s Pantry we need to take care of our community, reach out and help people who need help,” Barlip said. “This is one way we can do that: by bringing community members together so people can see what we’re doing and at the same time support us by buying great food from these local food trucks.”
