Featured Photo: Food trucks line Commerce Street in downtown Shreveport during the Red River Food Truck Throwdown in 2015.
The Rotary Club of Shreveport will host its second annual Red River Food Truck Throwdown, 12-3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016 in the Red River District in downtown Shreveport. Last year’s inaugural event was a surprise hit, attracting an estimated 1,500 diners and what looked to be about a dozen food trucks and mobile eateries including Taqueria La Michoacana, Dat’s Nacho Truck, Geauxsicles and more. The event is free for diners to attend, but food vendors are asked to pay a $100 registration fee. All proceeds from the event will benefit local nonprofit organizations via the Rotary Club of Shreveport’s civic grants program. Vendors can register by downloading this form from Dropbox or contacting organizer Scott Wysong at swysong@udallas.edu.
Attendees at the Red River Food Truck Throwdown will purchase tickets to vote for People’s Choice winners, with the first, second and third place winners receiving cash prizes and bragging rights. A panel of well-known local chefs will select Chef’s Choice winners, who will also receive cash prizes. New this year, the Rotary Club and the Community Foundation of North Louisiana have partnered to host a volunteer fair with over 75 local non-profit booths on hand at the event to educate attendees about how they can make a difference in the community by volunteering.
In the year that’s passed since the first Red River Food Truck Throwdown, there’s been a lot of turnover in Shreveport’s now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t food truck scene. Some trucks and mobile food vendors have disappeared from sight, others have returned from retirement and a few fantastic new mobile eateries have cropped up. It’ll be interesting to see which eateries take part in the 2016 event. If some of the newcomers sign up, the competition could prove to be much tougher than it was in 2015.
RSVP to the event on Facebook.
Interested in local food? Check out the 2016 edition of our annual guide to local eats, Eat Here: A Food Lover’s Guide to Shreveport-Bossier.
