By Dakota Antelman — [email protected]
From curries to kettle corn, Concord250 visitors will have a buffet of ways to assuage their hunger pangs.
As they previewed mobile vendors, some officials said they bested expectations. Even so, some acknowledged a lingering question: Will it be enough?
“I can’t promise you there will be all the food you need if there’s 200,000 people at 9 a.m.,” public health director Melanie Dineen said during a March 14 meeting with business leaders.
Dineen said crowd size is “the million-dollar question,” and officials are “doing our best” to bolster Concord’s dining capacity.
A brimming events menu
The celebration of the semiquincentennial of the revolution’s start kicks off at 6 a.m. on April 19 with the traditional dawn salute. A larger-than-usual parade steps off at 8:30 a.m. The day will end with an afternoon block party and an evening drone show.
Organizers say the crowd could exceed 100,000, although estimates may change.
The town awarded eight grants worth up to $1,500 to help restaurants feed the masses. Officials also called for food trucks.
The resulting plan includes 33 vendors, primarily in Concord Center. The list encompasses restaurants and groups with temporary setups in addition to their main locations. It also counts 15 food trucks in the Walden Street municipal lot, five on Stow Street, and four vendors at The Concord Museum.
Some trucks will dish up food from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Others will take morning or evening shifts. Dineen said each vendor is bringing as much food as they can store, but businesses must ensure food safety.
In a March 17 presentation to the Select Board, economic vitality manager Mimi Graney said trucks working a morning or evening slot might sell out before their shift finishes and could be left “twiddling their thumbs.”
Graney said the challenge of moving trucks out and getting replacements into position around 3 p.m. “is going to be a little bit of a dance.”
Look for the orange vests
Officials have touted law enforcement preparations and advertised a multifaceted transportation network for April 19. Moments before a March 25 photo-op with a 250th anniversary-themed MBTA train car volunteer organizer Court Booth showed off orange vests that an army of “Concord250 ambassadors” will wear as they help visitors navigate the town.
At the March 17 Select Board meeting, Graney said officials view food options as another part of their public safety plan. “We don’t want people rushing for the buses as soon as the parade is over,” she said.
The Select Board approved the suite of mobile food vendors after Graney’s presentation. Though sellers still needed final approval from the Health Department, Select Board clerk Mark Howell said he was excited to read the list.
“[This is] the first time I can ever remember getting hungry reading a Select Board packet,” he said.
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