Cincinnati Street Food Festival

What an exciting turnout for this event! Walnut Hills is not an area that too many people are familiar with, so it was nice to see so many people make it out. What I loved about this event was the energy was high and everyone was welcome. This wasn't a snobby event. it was a finger licking, get down to business kind of event. With almost every food truck in town the lines weren't horrible and there was more than enough entertainment to go around.I will say some of the music might have been a bit inappropriate since there were young children at the event. The "wobble wobble touch you booty to the floor" kinda thing was a little weird but I totally dug the energy. There were plenty of activities that I haven't seen anywhere else. There was a paint your own pottery station, and other crafting tables as well. I liked that the Waffo truck was there. I had never heard of them before so that was fresh and new. All in all it was a well organized event and not everything went perfect but I appreciated the effort to bring the community together! Well done, and I look forward to attending again next year.

I really enjoyed this festival. Living in Oakley, this festival wasn't far from home so my wife and I decided to check it out and grab some food. What a wonderful time we had. It was supposed to end at 5:00 and we didn't get there until 3:00 so it did seem to be winding down somewhat when we got there.We grabbed some beers from the Rhinegeist booth (which was also serving Great Lakes beer) and decided to try some food trucks. Unfortunately some of the trucks were already running out of food so we didn't get our first choice which was Red Sesame Korean tacos. We had a falafel wrap from Andy's Mediterranean and then grabbed the very last grilled cheese from C'est Cheese. Also inside the festival area was the new Fireside Pizza restaurant and bar inside an old fire station with it's large door open. I was a bit disappointed that multiple food trucks hadn't prepared enough to last the whole festival but we still managed to get plenty of food.There was a stage with a jazz band playing when we showed up. After they quit playing there were a series of announcements and congratulations from some of the organizers of the festival and community organizers. This was followed by a high energy soul group, 2nd Wind. This was the highlight of the festival for us. They had four singers and a great band. The crowd was enjoying it so much that the festival ran over by an hour allowing the band to continue playing while the people danced and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.This was a great neighborhood festival with not too many people but still plenty so that there was a festive atmosphere. There were people painting a crosswalk and a person on stilts making balloon animals. The crowd was diverse and very representative of the people of Cincinnati. We both had fun and had the chance to interact with many different people. Although I hadn't heard of this festival the previous years, I am definitely looking forward to it next year.

This was a great time, and I'm really hoping this is just the first of many. I came simply pumped to be able to have so many delicious food truck options in one place, but there was continuous great live music, way more people than I anticipated and an overall fun atmosphere that made it a great mid afternoon stop. The dollar water was a nice touch, the weather totally cooperated, and the collection of food trucks did not disappoint.For next time, my only comment is more seating for eating somewhat messy foods. I'm not known for coordination and my compadre had to act as my table while I maneuvered my slice of crab rangoon pizza (in a quite graceful style I thought) but I'm not sure he appreciated it as much as I did...Favorite sight: Two girls coloring on the sidewalk in front of some artists creating the mural in the photo. Looking up every so often to pick up inspiration. :)

I'd been excited to check out this event since the organizers started promoting it two months ago. I marked it on the calendar. I even made a list of which new food vendors to try out. I arrived around 2:00 and was surprised to find most of the vendors sold out of their signature items. Two food trucks were sold out completely by this time.While it's fantastic that food trucks had a great day of earnings, it was disappointing to have limited options when there were still several hours remaining of the festival. Also, I noticed some of the new vendors listed on the event page were not present. Perhaps they didn't show. Perhaps they sold out early and left. Bell's Food Express and J&W BBQ were two I wanted to try but didn't see them around. Oh well.Things I did enjoy: - The musical stylings of Jameze & Ingrid - Mt. Carmel beer. It's always a joy to have a local brewer present. - All the cute dogs with Golden Doodle fur - The historic architecture of Walnut HillsFor the first time organizing this event, I'd say it was a huge success for Walnut Hills. I'm looking forward to coming back for future events in which I am sure they will have prepared ample food.

One of the best events in Cincinnati, the original street food festival, devoted strictly to the street truck association trucks, and it's AWESOME. Come hungry, you will eat. Way better food offerings than Taste of Cincinnati, no mass produced food here. The music was great, and it's wonderful to see the changes in the neighborhood, things really are coming around here.