Food Truck Rodeo rallies flavors, cold drinks for hot July 4 (2024)

Participants in the inaugural July 4 Food Truck Rodeo in Yowell Meadow Park endured a heat advisory and late-day storms in the middle of serving up a variety of delicious flavors and cool drink concoctions.

Nearly two dozen food trucks signed up for the day-long culinary display on Independence Day, in the main parking lot along Blue Ridge Avenue. The street was shut down for the holiday festivities that also included family activities and live music on the green sides of the popular town park.

Food Truck Rodeo participant Darin Morgan owns ‘Tha Muncheez,’ specializing in wings, cheese steaks and quesadillas.

He’s a regular at the Clevenger’s Corner food truck lot and said they did about as well sales-wise as an average day at the Jeffersonton site.

“It rained pretty hard,” Morgan said. “It slowed down, but then after it cleared up everyone started coming back down, like the last hour.”

He said he would consider doing the event again, suggesting the Food Truck Rodeo somehow be combined with the Freedom Car & Bike Show, on East Davis Street.

A 2011 graduate of Culpeper County High School, Morgan trained as a chef at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh before starting work in the restaurant business. He got his CDL and drove on the road for seven years before going off on his own. Morgan started running his food truck earlier this year. He also runs Darin’s Events Catering.

Asked what he likes about having his own food truck versus working in a traditional restaurant, he stated, “That I’m able to venture out to different locations to reach more customers. You can get better interaction with your customer base and know exactly who you’re feeding, which is a good thing.”

Tha Muncheez will be at Death Ridge Brewery this Sunday and is at Clevengers Corner 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day of the week except Tuesdays.

Food Truck Rodeo participants Amanda and Adam Greenwell, of Manassas, represent the Cupcake Mafia. They brought their food truck for the July 4 event in Culpeper, offering handmade sweets and frozen drinks, including frozen coffee and a fruit-flavored hurricane concoction. She’s retired military and he works for the U.S. Capitol Police.

The Food Truck Rodeo was really nice and their day went well, said Amanda Greenwell.

“Many people really enjoyed our Patriot Cupcake. It’s a blueberry, strawberry and lemon cupcake with cream cheese frosting. The real fruit inside surprised some. We stayed until the rain left and still sold more,” she said.

The best thing about having a food truck is the ability to take their goodies to many different people, Greenwell added.

“With my PTSD it’s nice to be able to help others without having too many triggers,” she said. “Another perk is we can take our kids to events for them to enjoy as well.”

The Food Truck Rodeo also featured Thai food, BBQ, hot dogs and fixings, along with ice cream, Southern food, Asian selections, fresh fruit, big cold lemonades and a bubble tea booth, along with other flavors of Culpeper and beyond.