Food Truck Friday and West Cliff Outdoor Market to debut this weekend
Quick Take
The twin events on West Cliff Drive figure to be a regular monthly feature for the rest of the year.
Santa Cruz’s breathtaking West Cliff Drive is not a commercial zone — for which joggers, dog walkers, and surfers can all be grateful.
But this year, West Cliff will have a bit of a transactional presence, a pair of monthly events that are designed to be as social as commercial.
On Fridays, throughout the summer, the parking lot at Lighthouse Point on West Cliff will be the gathering spot of a number of popular local food trucks, beginning on April 2, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Then, the following day, the same lot will be the site of the West Cliff Outdoor Market, featuring local and regional artisans with jewelry, clothing, art items, gourmet food and other goods. The Market debuts its summer season on Saturday, April 3, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The twin events’ coordinator Kathryn Walsh said that Food Truck Friday and the West Cliff Outdoor Market will, beginning in May, take place on the third weekend of each month.
The Friday evening event will feature five local food trucks — Nomad Mono, Drunk Monkey, Pana, Taquizas Gabriel, and Scrumptious Fish & Chips — plus Penny Ice Creamery.
Walsh began bringing food trucks to downtown as a social nexus a few years ago. The pandemic put an end to that, but when it was time for a tentative reopening last summer, Walsh wanted to move the food truck event to West Cliff, as to not compete with struggling downtown restaurants. The city agreed.
“The food trucks, they all have their own followings,” said Walsh. “And people are just so happy to be out and doing something.”
Walsh said that both events will comply and enforce pandemic protocols on santizing and wearing masks, even providing free masks for people who are not carrying them.
IF YOU GO: For more details, check out the events’ Facebook page.
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