VERO BEACH — The looming threat of rain showers did nothing to faze hundreds of hungry people who filed into Riverside Park on Saturday afternoon in support of The Buggy Bunch’s third Food Truck Frenzy.
Recently celebrating its fourth anniversary, The Buggy Bunch is Florida’s largest, fastest growing 501 (c)3 non-profit mom’s group. The organization serves moms along the Treasure Coast by ‘help[ing] moms in [the] community meet one another for fun, fellowship, and fitness”; and through friendships bring each other into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, according to the group’s mission statement.
The Buggy Bunch’s first stab at the Food Truck Frenzy event took place in August of 2013. Both Kelly Sartain, executive director of The Buggy Bunch and April Muller, director of community relations, agreed that the August event received an overwhelming turnout, totaling between 10,000 and 12,000 visitors.
By 5:30 p.m., only 90 minutes after the official start time, Sartain said Saturday’s event was on track to match or surpass the August event’s totals.
“The August event was truly a frenzy,” Muller said. She added, instead of handling thousands stream through the welcome tent at once, this event proved to be much more steady.
But the popularity, growth and success of the event did not come by chance. On the contrary, Muller said The Buggy Bunch has been more than faithful at listening and responding to feedback from the community.
“We dig for things,” Muller said. “Any time we receive an email, are mentioned on Facebook, anything, we respond to it almost immediately.”
Wendy Shafranski and Rob Delacruz, owners of CrossFit Vero Beach, said they attended the Food Truck Frenzy event only because The Buggy Bunch had listened to their concerns and suggestions following the event in August.
“At the first event, the Food Truck choices were very limited and not healthy,” Shafranski said. “We gave our suggestion to bring in healthier options and they totally listened to us and put our suggestion to action.”
Shafranski and Delacruz enjoyed meals from Health Nut on Wheels, a Miami-based Paleo food truck that dished out heaping plates of meat and vegetables.
“We came for the food and the family time,” said Charleen McDonald, who attended the event with her husband, Doug, and 15-year-old daughter, Prissy, after hearing it advertised on Christian FM radio.
The McDonald family had toured the food truck line-up, sampling from many of the restaurants-on-wheels along the way. But El Orgullo Latino Kitchen, another truck from Miami, won the family over.
“We stopped by that truck twice,” Charleen McDonald said.
As rain began to come down around 6 p.m., umbrellas went up and lines of people continued to form at the window of each grilling, frying, ice cream scooping truck and booth in the park.
From stuffed, savory pastries flying out of the Miami-based Empanada Truck to fresh lobster rolls and bisque served up from the Clermont, Fla., Red Zeppelin Truck, gourmet food cooked inside a box truck did more than attract crowds – it kept them there, even in the rain.
Muller said the Buggy Bunch will continue to learn and grow from each Food Truck Frenzy festival. Taking suggestions and putting them into action seems to be the recipe for this non-profit’s success.
Planning for the next frenzy, Sartain said, is already well underway.