Ringling Picnic brings food trucks to downtown Sarasota

Andrew Seeley, owner of Flying Sliders, shows off some of his sandwiches on the first day of the Ringling Picnic on Monday. (Feb. 13, 2012) (Herald-Tribune staff photo by Dan Wagner)

Although food trucks have been all the rage in urban areas around the country for the past few years, Sarasota has been behind in that particular culinary trend. Mindy Parker hopes to change that with her new Ringling Picnic.

Essentially a place for food trucks to gather close to the lunch bustle of downtown Sarasota, Ringling Picnic takes advantage of a disused corner parking area at the intersection of Ringling Ave. and Golf St., just enough space for a half-dozen or so food trucks to park and serve. For Parker, though, it wasn’t as easy as just inviting the trucks to pull in.

After living in Austin, TX and experienceing one of the most vibrant food truck and outdoor dining scenes in the country, she wondered why we couldn’ have a little of that here. That started a year-long process of convincing the city and downtown groups to agree to her vision. “To the city’s credit, they were open enough to try it,” says Parker. “I didn’t really expect to get this far.”

Thomaura O'Sullivan and her husband, Bob Orminski, of O'Macalicious, serve mac n' cheese dishes on the first day of the Ringling Picnic on Monday. (Feb. 13, 2012) (Herald-Tribune staff photo by Dan Wagner)

The soft opening of the space happened on Monday, with a couple of trucks participating, but more are scheduled to arrive in the coming days, including: Flying Sliders (a gourmet sandwich truck); O’Macalicious (specializing in gluten-free foods including mac and cheese, tater tots and more); Baja Boys (a taco truck specializing in fish tacos); B’s Cool Treats (an ice cream truck that carries Sarasota’s own Pop Craft artisan popsicles); Java Dawg (you’ve seen it – the double-decker coffee bus); and Foodeez (which serves a varied and changing menu of savory foods).

Parker says that she has tapped most of the local food trucks for Ringling Picnic, but more may be on the way. “I’ve talked to 15 or so others who are in some stage of getting a truck together,” she says. “I’m sure more will be coming.”

Ringling Picnic is open from 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday and you can find out more at ringlingpicnic.com. These are food trucks, however, so your best bet for the latest news on the daily lineup is to check facebook.com/ringlingpicnic.

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