Erica Stimaker prepares orders at the Yeti Dogs food truck as she talks with a customer during lunchtime in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood on Thursday, March 24, 2022.
This month, the Spenard Food Truck Carnival opened its 10th season in the parking lot across from Koot’s. It has served multiple purposes. Not only has it established itself as a place where Anchorage residents can find unique and delicious foods, but it has also become an in-person business card event for food truck operators, spawning catering and other opportunities.
People look over the Tacos El Primo lunch menu in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood on Thursday, March 24, 2022. In 2013, five food trucks banded together to create the carnival. They asked Darrin Huycke to run it, given his experience organizing and promoting events and concerts through his business, Huycke Entertainment.
The carnival became even more popular because “we didn’t have to convince people to do anything different,” said Huycke. Erica Stimaker prepares an order for a customer at the Yeti Dogs food truck during lunchtime in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood on Thursday, March 24, 2022. Regular attendees, such as Papaya Tree, Los Mochileros and Yeti Dogs, have become some of the most popular food trucks in Southcentral Alaska, finding themselves outside breweries and at events all summer. In a parking lot that was never full those first few years, the peak of summer these days sees trucks fighting for space.
Dao Manivong owns Papaya Tree, offering what the truck describes as “unmessed-with Southeast Asian street food,” and for two years she has been bringing the truck to the carnival every Thursday. Noy Synakorn, who works in the truck with Dao, said that this year, the truck is so in demand they will probably only make it every other week. The Spenard Food Truck Carnival is still a great source of support.