A food truck rodeo held last week at Skyway Park could be a sign of things to come for the Cicero parks and recreation department.
Peter Bardou, recreation supervisor, is modernizing the department’s offerings by hopping on the food truck bandwagon and using video and social media to promote events. During the lunch hours of Oct. 6, Skyway Park hosted three local food trucks and Bella Domani Catering & Banquets for “Plates in the Park: Food Truck Frolic.”
“It’s another way to bring awareness to our parks and our department. It seemed like a winning combination,” Bardou said.
Bardou invited PB&J’s Lunch Box, Chicken Bandit, Toss ‘n’ Fire Wood-Fired Pizza and Bella Domani to the park, which is near several businesses and apartments in North Syracuse.
“Somebody might eat [here] that’s never been to the park before and think, ‘Hey, I can bring my kid here,’” Bardou said.
Bardou said he hopes to turn Plates in the Park into a regular event, possibly pairing it with movie nights, live music or family days in the park.
Last month, Bardou contacted Dennis Souva, owner of Chicken Bandit and chair of the Syracuse Food Truck Association.
“I pitched this idea to him … and we pulled it together pretty fast,” Bardou said.
“This is the first time since we’ve been in business that a township has invited us to an event,” Souva said.
Chicken Bandit, PB&J’s and Toss ‘n’ Fire are part of the food truck rodeo that takes place Wednesdays at Lyncourt Plaza. The Salina Planning Board briefly halted the weekly rodeo until it approved a new site plan last month allowing the roundup to continue.
“I think [customers] like the idea that Cicero is actually sponsoring this,” Souva said. “It shows foresight on the town’s part.”
While they aren’t strictly a food truck, Bella Domani is just down the street from Skyway Park.
“We’ve been doing our roadside [Bella Blues] Barbecue for probably eight years now,” said Ali Lang, whose family owns Bella Domani.
Lang said Plates in the Park shows that Cicero is “open to small business.”
“They’re acknowledging that not everyone has the ability to open up a full restaurant, but they have the ability to serve food and do what they love on a smaller scale,” Lang said. “It’s nice to have that support.”
Pat Orr, owner of PB&J’s Lunch Box, said the Syracuse Food Truck Association is always on the lookout for new locations.
“Ideally, we’d like to be in a different area every day,” she said. “We’re not trying to close restaurants down — just trying to give people another option.”
Nick Sanford, owner of Toss ‘n’ Fire, said he is looking forward to partnering with Cicero parks and rec for future events.
“Cicero has a great program called the CanTeen. We’re hoping that we’re going to do some stuff to benefit them,” Sanford said.
Bardou said 50 to 60 people partook in Plates in the Park, and he’s already thinking about his next programs.
“You get into the rut of having the same programs,” he said. “We wanted to have something different.”
In the works at Cicero parks and rec are a day trip to New York City on Dec. 5 and English riding lessons with Triple H Stables. To learn more about upcoming programs, visit cicero.recdesk.com or call 699-5233.
