The 2000 block of historic Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard will be buzzing Thursday evening with people lining up from truck to truck for the first Central City Food Truck Festival.  A collaboration of City Council President Stacy Head and the Good Work Network, which aids small business development, the festival is aiming to spotlight both small businesses, and the revitalization of Oretha Castle Haley - a blighted area of Central City that has lagged behind in commercial ventures for years.        

“We want to help some of our food vendors have an easier time entering the marketplace and we realized food trucks were a good way to do that,” says Jonas Miller, director of operations at the Good Work Network.  

Since starting up a restaurant is extremely costly for small and beginning business owners, a food truck makes a smart alternative to four walls and seating.  

“Head is a strong proponent for economic development, especially helping out small businesses,” says Danielle Viguerie, Director of Communications and Community Outreach at Councilmember Head’s office.  “She sees food trucks as a great entrepreneurial opportunity for people who might not want to open a restaurant.” 

The festival, a way of showcasing the food trucks and vendors, also brings needed business to OC Haley, organizers said. Head championed bringing business back to Freret Street with restaurants like Dat Dog and Ancora Pizzeria, and she thinks the prognosis for OC Haley looks promising.    

“The hope is to have people who live around the neighborhood [OC Haley] be able to eat around here,” says Miller.  

Food trucks that will be appearing on Thursday include La Cocinita, Foodie Call, Mama & Me Soul Food, Rue Chow, NOLA Girl Creole Cuisine, Empanada Intifada, Frencheeze, Bittles with the Vittles and Ramisha’s Snowball Stand.  

The truck festival comes only days after the New Orleans City Council Economic Development & Special Projects Committee meet at City Council with the New Orleans Food Truck Coalition to discuss altering outdated mobile vending ordinances that, at the moment, impede their businesses.    

“The letter of the law right now [states that] as a mobile food provider you can’t be in the same spot for longer than 45 minutes,” says Miller.  “Head has been instrumental in trying to explain the food truck laws to vendors.”  

The outcome of tomorrow’s council meeting is still up in the air. But the goal, according to Miller, is to update the ordinances and make them more transparent to vendors.

“[The laws] were written in 1956 and have been only moderately modified since then.  There are tons of weird limits of how many permits we can hand out…There are certain areas of the city they are not allowed to go into, [but] they do have to have the same kind of safety and health permits that a restaurants have,” says Viguerie.