Downtown Vernon doesn’t really have a take-out food scene. Want a slice of pizza? You’re out of luck. Gourmet hot dog? Sorry.
You can order “to go” from some of the local restaurants, but there’s nothing like the food cart culture that’s developed in Portland, Oregon.
The opportunity
Since March, the Vernon Art Gallery has been running a pop-up exhibition on the corner of 31st Avenue & 31st Street downtown Vernon, BC. It features large shipping containers for the gallery, and a little square in front with benches.
It’s a great corner. It’s on the plaza that links the downtown bus stop and City Hall, and has a great walking path that goes right by it.
My friend Andrew at Ratio Coffee has a specialty coffee cart set-up there, and he’s just starting to get traction.
The bad news? When the exhibition is done, the shipping containers are being given away, and Andrew will have to move.
But this site has tremendous potential. Once the gallery is gone, why couldn’t the City of Vernon convert it into a plaza for food carts? The shipping containers could remain, and provide vendors with night-time storage (or even seating when the weather gets bad).
Food carts have been an economic boost for Portland: tourists from around the world are attracted to the city because of it’s vibrant food culture.
Right now, there’s a great opportunity to do something similar in Vernon. Out for a walk downtown? Now you have a place where it’d be easy to grab a quick bite.
What do you think of a “Food Cart Square” in Vernon, BC?
10 replies on “Vernon needs a place for food carts”
I love the food cart scene in Portland, would be great to have a mini version of that in Vernon.
What a great idea for Vernon. It would be a great addition to our beautiful summers.
YES PLEASE!!!! We need food trucks!
Love it! I think it’d be great for Vernon
We could run a test with a mini Taste of Vernon, a couepl of Fridays, let resturants and other have tasters for a low price to intorduce Vernon to thier menus and get folks eatin in the street.
I think a food truck alley would be a great attraction for Vernon! Having it near a park of some kind is perfect so people can enjoy the park and eat, socialize and keep the energy in the city. Creating areas that have vitality and foster social and cultural interaction is what keeps a city vibrant and alive.
Love the idea! Vernon needs to keep up!
I think this is a great idea! There could be such a variety of foods and all fast for people on the go!
If this got going I’d be interested in making a food truck finder app/website to help promote local truck menus and locations. Every truck would get a login and be able to post location and daily menu. Users would have an interactive map and be able to pop up the menu by touch of the location
I think this would cool for the Okanagan / Thompson region. Vernon likely won’t have more than 5 – 8 food trucks operating at the same time.