By Sarah Richardson
The City of Ronceverte will be the home of the newest festival in the region – The Ronceverte Food Truck Festival – starting this May. The festival aims to bring a variety of food, music, and games to the River City for an inaugural two-day event on Friday, May 12, and Saturday, May 13.
Spearheaders Alex DeGraff and Dan Withrow have been working with other volunteers involved with the events and entertainment committee, as well as City officials, to bring this idea to fruition. The events and entertainment committee is an informal group that does legwork for other happenings in Ronceverte including the Skyline Bluegrass Festival and the Red Nose River Run, a float on the Greenbrier River that raises funds to combat ALS.
“We specifically focus on events in Ronceverte and helping the city’s revitalization,” DeGraff said. “Our vision is just wanting to have people spending time in Ronceverte, we want to give them something to do in a designated place for the whole family.”
DeGraff rents a music studio together with her dad, Adam DeGraff, on Edgar Avenue. She said that they used to rent a space in Lewisburg, but they came to Ronceverte to tour a building that was for sale and met up with Dan Withrow. After several months of meetings, they publicly launched the plans for the festival on Facebook where it quickly amassed over 1,000 interested individuals for the event.
“We were totally overwhelmed by the support,” said DeGraff. “It started just as an idea, and we didn’t really know what all it was going to become.”
There won’t just be food trucks at the festival, there will also be live music throughout each day as well as a variety of games for kids and adults alike. The plans currently include corn hole, bouncy houses and inflatables, ax throwing, something called “human foosball,” and other activities. Local artisanal vendors will also be set up selling wares.
Dan Withrow reports that there will be around five food trucks for the first festival, but that they have the possibly of expanding.
“I think it’s going to be something different for our area,” said Withrow, “we really do want to make this a kid and family friendly event for all.”
The festival will be held on Edgar Avenue, with one block of the street being closed from the new City Hall building to the Day Report Center.
However, the Food Truck Festival won’t just happen once this year. DeGraff reports that they are aiming to hold this event once a month throughout the rest of the summer, with tentative dates scheduled for June 16 and 17, July 14 and 15, and Aug. 4 and 5.
“We were inspired by other monthly events in the area, like First Fridays in Lewisburg,” said DeGraff.
Vendors and musicians wishing to participate are encouraged to contact Alex DeGraff over Facebook. Both professional and amateur music acts are welcome at the festival.
To stay up-to-date on times and other information, follow the “Ronceverte Food Truck Festival” event page on Facebook, or the “Ronceverte Peeps” page.
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