Plenty of food and entertainment awaited visitors at Saturday’s Fall Food Truck Fest at the Allen County Fairgrounds.
Charlotte Caldwell | The Lima News
LIMA — Sixteen local food trucks, 16 craft vendors and two musicians gathered Saturday at the Allen County Fairgrounds for the first Fall Food Truck Fest.
With free admission, attendees could visit the vendors and choose food from Shafer’s Smoked Meats, Circle U Waffle Co., J’s Lip Smackin Wings, QT Kay’s Kitchen, Double D’s Nuts, Sun-E Side Up, Deutsch Essen, D & D Putting and Amusements Inc., Flavr-Js, Robsagna, Wicked ‘Wiches & BBQ, The Brat Wagon, LLC, Flappers Fins & Fries, Taco Movil Lima, Bre’s Taco & Such and Fork in the Road. Trevor Howe and Paul Smock also performed.
Kylie Shafer of Shafer Smoked Meats and KRS Events organized the event. She said the event was free because their business covered the cost, and it was important for it to be free because she gave an example of a previous similar event that charged $10 per person, and that would not be feasible for a family of four, she said.
Lima residents BJ and Heather McPheron and their son Brooks made the most of all the food options by getting pizza from Robsagna, tacos from Taco Movil and grilled cheese from Fork in the Road along with taffy, a snow cone and cake pops.
Their goal was to “Mix it up, try a little bit of everything,” Heather said.
“We saw it on Facebook and it was on the way home and said, ‘Let’s just stop there,’” BJ said of the event.
After trying it for the first time, they said their favorite food was Robsagna.
Another Lima resident, Dominic DePalma, also liked the lasagna and breadsticks from Robsagna. He has also tried Deutsch Essen, Sun-E Side Up and Circle U Waffle Co. He said he goes to about three food truck festivals per year.
“I love food trucks. They have some of the best food,” DePalma said.
Robsagna is owned by Rob and Lynn McKee of Upper Sandusky, and their food truck is an old Tiffin City Schools bus that they purchased from Rush Truck Centers in Lima. They bought the bus in November 2023 after they kept running out of food at events when they were selling out of a trailer.
Rob said they attended the event because they are trying to grow in Lima and are looking for a place to set up in town during the winter months.
He said the most unique menu items they offer are smoked lasagna, and they always have unique desserts. Saturday’s choice was bacon-wrapped Oreos. The bus’ wood-fired oven can make pizzas in 90 seconds and they can make two to three pizzas at a time. And, as their website reads, “The secret is in the sauce!”
“We’re looking to get into the sauce business soon because my sauce is about 30 years in the making,” Rob said. “I think it’s well-balanced, and it’s got ingredients that people never think of putting in lasagna or spaghetti sauce.”
Fork in the Road Owner Mark Hill, of Kenton, said their unique menu items included gourmet grilled cheese, fresh-cut fries, deep-fried pickles, pretzel bites and scratch-made soups. His favorites are the Mac-n-Pork Grilled Cheese, the Philly Cheese Steak Grilled Cheese and the Smoked Brisket Grilled Cheese.
Chris Kirkendall, the owner of Deutsch Essen — which is “German food” in English — said their most popular menu items are the sausages and cabbage rolls.
“Most of what we have is homemade food from (my) grandma’s recipes,” Kirkendall said. “We do a blend of what I say is classic German food and pub-style favorites.”
“We know a lot of the other vendors in here and just wanted to be a part of something with them and getting something new started in the area,” Kirkendall said about why her business participated in the event.
Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.
