By ALANA MITCHELSON
THE opening night of the Berwick Food Truck Carnival attracted a crowd of 5500 on Wednesday night, almost double the expected volume of people.
Carnival organiser Danny Grant said he expected the overwhelming attendance numbers would increase to as many as 8000 each night throughout the weekend.
“We had predicted about 3000 people to come on a random Wednesday, so we’re amazed at how popular it’s been so far,“ he said.
“There’s a good mix of cuisine including American, Mexican, Asian, European – a bit of everything.
“The Philippino and ‘Lemon Aid’ trucks are both local businesses.”
The opening night featured 14 food vans. While original plans would have seen 19 food trucks each subsequent night, the high demand called for two last minute additions.
Mr Grant said that those who went to the carnival in off-peak times – 5pm to 6pm and 9pm to 10pm – avoided the lengthier queues for their meals.
“We tried to educate people about what time to come if they didn’t want to wait too long but I’m not sure that many people got that message from our campaign,” he said.
Ferntree Gully resident Rebecca Grech-Cumbo said “many places had run out of particular items” and lines were “extensive”.
“It was well set up and lots of tables and the food we saw looked amazing, but unfortunately I think more people attended than they expected,” Ms Grech-Cumbo said.
“We arrived at around 7pm on Wednesday night and, talking to people in lines, it varied from a 20 to 40 minute wait. It also took us at least 10 minutes to find a car park.
“Afterwards the parking attendant asked us how the food was and we told him that we didn’t eat. He said most people he talked to also didn’t eat.”
Others were impressed by the variety of cuisine on offer.
Beaumaris resident Stuart Bransbury arrived at 5pm to avoid peak-hour crowds.
“Overall I thought it was great, there was a really good atmosphere and I really liked the setting among the trees in the park,” he said.
“We wanted to try to get in early and beat the weekend crowds, although it was a surprise to see how many people were there on Wednesday.
“Lots of variety, every truck was pretty different which was nice to see. I may look to come back over the weekend to try out some of the other trucks that I didn’t get to.”
Mr Grant said the carnival would be an annual event.
