Bigger, better Kings Island food truck festival returns this weekend

WANT TO GO?

What: Kings Island Food Truck Festival

Where: 6300 Kings Island Drive, Mason. The Food Truck Festival will be set up on International Street near and around the Eiffel Tower.

When: June 3-5

Cost: In addition to entry to the park, guests pay at each food truck window for what they order. This is not a ticket event. It's open to all park guests.

Entertainment: There will be some roving entertainment, including the Peanuts Party in the Park show at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. each day.

Discussions about adding a food truck event at Kings Island began in the fall of 2014 for the 2015 season.

It was an opportunity to add a special culinary experience for the parks guests, which they did and continue to clamor for.

“The Food Truck Festival was well received last year by our guests. It was one of the most popular events we’ve done over the past 10 seasons. We’ve added an extra day this year, making it a three-day event,” said Don Helbig, Public Relations Area Manager.

The park went from around 20 food trucks for its first year to closer to 30 this year.

Helbig explains that there is a lot of detail work involved for the event — the size of each truck, which side their window is on, and several other factors that help determine where a particular truck will be located during the event. He says the work pays off with the positive guest reaction and experience.

This year food truck participants include:

“The food truck festival is a unique culinary experience for our guests. They have an opportunity to try foods they don’t have access to at other times they visit the park or on a day-to-day basis in their community. When you have more than 20 food trucks surrounding the Eiffel Tower, it’s a different kind of atmosphere,” Helbig said.