Downtown Chowdown: New monthly event celebrates food, downtown Jasper

ByMatthew Crane Reading Time: 2 minutes

Wednesday evenings in downtown Jasper will hopefully be filled with a plethora of delicious smells from food trucks and the sounds of music and people as part of a new monthly food festival this summer.

The new event, Downtown Chowdown, will feature multiple food truck vendors from throughout the region serving a variety of foods, live music sponsored by Smithville Fiber, Farmers’ Market vendors, late shopping hours, games, and great conversations in a laid-back setting.

The event will be held on the second Wednesday of the month from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. starting on May 13th, rain or shine, on the square in downtown Jasper. Those dates are Wednesday, May 13th; Wednesday, June 10th; Wednesday, July 8th; Wednesday, August 12th; Wednesday, September 9th; and Wednesday, October 14th.

The square will be closed to traffic at around 4 p.m. on those Wednesdays to give time for the vendors and trucks to set up for the event. Food trucks will be set up on the southeast and northwest corners of the square and vendors and music will be set up on the remaining corners.

“We have some great businesses (downtown) and if you don’t go in regularly, you should. This a great opportunity to come in and spend some money and support those businesses,” Director of Community Development/Planning Darla Blazey said.

The event is designed to highlight the downtown area as well as make use of the city’s new food truck ordinance. The ordinance was approved in 2019 and allows food trucks in specified areas of the city and requires permits to operate. According to Blazey, the city has had a few permits issued and she hopes this will draw more to the area.

“I am personally excited about this,” Mayor Dean Vonderheide said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for this community to come together one night a month — who knows it could expand eventually. We have a beautiful downtown area that we don’t utilize well for these kinds of events so I think this is going to get people out and about.”

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5 Comments

  1. What an exciting promotion! Can hardly wait! Love that Jasper is taking this opportunity for community. Enjoyment and growth!!! Whole bunch of “atta boys” to you!!!

  4. Where do you plan on allowing people to park for this? There is no parking at all unless you make people walk from the bank or streets located elsewhere? Until the Library and Arts parking lot are done its a pain to park. If it is a hassle to get there and park alot of people may avoid it all together versus having ample parking.

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