The Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival is a series of events involving food trucks, artisan vendors, live music and family-friendly activities.
The first food truck festival-style event of the season in 2024 was the Food Truck Festival at UBC in April. The one after that is Food Truck Wars in Langley. The second event happens on April 19th to 21st. On the following weekend of April 27th and 28th there’s also the Coquitlam Community Fest at Town Centre Park. Other upcoming events include Food Truck Fest at BCIT in May, Langley Community Day in June, Chilliwack Ribfest in July and Mission Ribfest in August.
For the most up-to-date details about food truck events in the Lower Mainland, see the Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival‘s official website.
Food Truck Festivals in the Lower Mainland
There are many food truck-related events in the Lower Mainland. Some are huge and others are smaller. The Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival is an organization that hosts many of them.
To learn about all of the Lower Mainland’s various food truck-style events, click Lower Mainland Food Truck Festivals. To learn about the ones run by the Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival folk, continue reading.
Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival Events
The Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival is a series of events in different parts of the Lower Mainland. In a typical year, each event features over 20 food trucks, artisan vendors and live entertainment. Admission to the venue is usually free, but occasionally it’s by donation. You pay though for whatever food you buy.
2024 Food Truck Festival Events
The following events happen at various locations as part of the Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival series of events in 2024:
- Food Truck Fest at UBC – on April 4th and 5th at UBC Commons in front of the AMS Nest at UBC.
- Food Truck Wars – on the weekend of April 19th to 21st at KPU Langley.
- Coquitlam Community Fest – on April 27th and 28th at Town Centre Park.
- Chilliwack Party in the Park – on the Saturday and Sunday of May 4th and 5th at Central Community Park in Chilliwack.
- Food Truck Fest at BCIT – on the Mother’s Day Weekend of May 11th and 12th at BCIT in Burnaby.
- Langley Community Days – a community event on June 8th at Douglas Park.
- Chilliwack Ribfest – an event with live music and barbecued rib vendors at Chilliwack Community Park on July 26th to 28th.
- Mission Ribfest – a new event at Fraser River Heritage Park on August 2nd to 5th.
2023 Food Truck Festival Events
The events listed below took place last year. They may or may not return in 2024.
- Surrey Community Block Party – on the weekend of June 3rd and 4th at the Cloverdale Rodeo & Exhibition Grounds in Surrey.
- Mission Block Party – on the Saturday and Sunday of June 24th and 25th at Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission.
- Richmond Fusion Fest – on August 11th to 13th at Lansdowne Mall in Richmond.
In addition to the above, other food truck-themed events happen each year in various communities.
What to Expect at a Food Truck Event
In a typical year each of the Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival’s events features twenty or more food trucks serving everything from ice cream to pizza, mini donuts, and Greek, Chinese, Thai, Japanese and other ethnic cuisine. The festivals also feature live music and a vendor market area.
At many of the above Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival events in recent years, characters from the TV show Paw Patrol have made appearances and been available for photo opportunities. There are also usually craft activities and/or a face painting station for children. This may or may not be the case in 2024 and future years.
Drive-Thru Food Truck Video
The following video is of a drive-thru food truck event that took place in the spring of 2021. It shows a weekend event in Maple Ridge at the Albion Fairgrounds. Because of COVID-19, live in-person events weren’t permitted. Drive-thru-style events though were allowed. If you watch the video, you’ll get an idea of what to expect.
As you’ll see in the video, the event happened in the parking lot of the Albion Fairgrounds. As cars arrived they joined one of several lines to get food from their favourite vendor. If you wanted food from more than one place, you went through once and then drove around again to join another line. We got our main dish – barbecued ribs – from Guerilla Q. After eating the ribs we got dessert from the Rocky Point Ice Cream food truck. It was all delicious!
Other Information
Check out the Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival website for more information about the organization behind this series of food truck-related events.
To learn more about these and other similar events, click Lower Mainland Food Truck Festivals.
Other articles that might be of interest include the following:
To learn more about the communities where Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival events take place most years see our articles about the following:
