PHOTO CREDIT: Evan Casey
Morgan Park
The far south end of Kinnickinnic Avenue typically doesn’t see as much action as the north end of Bay View’s main drag, but in recent years, some residents and business owners in the neighborhood found a creative way to liven up a formerly underused 0.9-acre triangle park. Food Truck Friday at Morgan Park (3404 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.), which will coincide with Bay View Gallery Night (BVGN), hosts an array of 20 food trucks, vendors music and more. The next Food Truck Friday at Morgan Park takes place Friday, Sept. 27, 4-8 p.m.
Sheri Lee—a licensed acupuncturist who owns 8 Branches Chinese Medicine across the street from Morgan Park (also known as Morgan Triangle)—participated in BVGN for the first time in June 2013. “I found that a lot of people who stopped by were asking where to eat around here, but there were not a lot of options, and people didn’t want to go to the north end of KK [Kinnickinnic Avenue] because it was so busy,” she says. Later that summer, she talked with BVGN organizers about bringing in a couple of food trucks to create a family friendly event in the park during BVGNs.
Lee, along with Friends of Morgan Park board member Kirsten Corbell and Milwaukee County 14th District Supervisor Jason Haas, planned the first event to coincide with BVGN in September 2013. “We started with about six food trucks, and it has grown ever since,” she says.
Some food trucks such as Press, makers of authentic Belgian liège waffles, have been involved with the event since the beginning. Lee notes they try to bring in a variety of different food vendors. Other vendors scheduled for the upcoming Food Truck Friday include Little Havana Express, featuring Cuban fare; Olano’s Empanadas, with Latin American-style baked pastries with sweet or savory filling; That Salsa Lady, makers of small-batch fresh salsas and tortilla chips; Mr. Dye’s Pies, with scratch-made pies in classic flavors like key lime, pecan and sweet potato, as well as innovative flavors like cherry bourbon; and The Rolling Cones, which offers savory cuisines of Americana and the world served in bread cones.
The family friendly event is alcohol free, Lee says, and they always include a music element. Guitarists played at earlier events, but they’ve shifted to drumming and work with Brazilian samba troupe Samba da Vida and Bembe MKE, a youth Afro-Latino percussion ensemble. “They’re so lovely to work with and great with children. They bring in all the drums and kids can participate in a non-amplified sound experience.”
Art vendors also line up in tents along Pennsylvania Avenue behind the park, and Rollout, a bicycle group that rides through BVGN, also stops through. “We have great neighbors that act as ambassadors and make sure the park stays clean. It’s all volunteer run,” she says. They also began partnering with other organizations for the event such as Fisher House to collect nonperishables and donations and with Mothering the Mother to provide a baby-changing tent and a quiet lounging place for breastfeeding moms.
