Foodstock combines the tastes of Kentucky with the traditions of Derby

City of Somerset hosts annual food truck event April 30

The City of Som­er­set’s annu­al Food­stock food truck fes­ti­val will have Der­by fla­vor this year, fea­tur­ing an art com­po­nent and fam­i­ly activ­i­ties that cel­e­brate the most famous two min­utes in sports.

The city intend­ed to add a Der­by Fes­ti­val to its event line­up in 2020 but was forced to can­cel the event because of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. Bring­ing back the idea by com­bin­ing it with the city’s already suc­cess­ful Food­stock offers the best of both worlds in one event, said Leslie Ikerd, tourism and events direc­tor.

“Both the Der­by and Food­stock cel­e­brate so many things that are unique­ly Ken­tucky,” Ikerd said. “Local food. Art. Music. Hors­es. Bour­bon. We decid­ed we could bring all of those togeth­er into one event with our down­town as the cen­ter point — our way of shar­ing the sto­ry of our beau­ti­ful com­mu­ni­ty and state.”

Food is of course the major attrac­tion at Food­stock, with 24 ven­dors from Som­er­set and across the Blue­grass com­mit­ted to attend­ing.

Foodstock’s art com­po­nent — a tra­di­tion of every city fes­ti­val — will chal­lenge local and region­al artists to illus­trate how they see Som­er­set on a jock­ey silk, a col­or­ful sym­bol of the Der­by. Eight artists will paint their silks live dur­ing the fes­ti­val, art­work that will lat­er be avail­able for pur­chase to sup­port arts ini­tia­tives in the com­mu­ni­ty.

Arts activ­i­ties for chil­dren will be avail­able through­out the day at the Pulas­ki Coun­ty Judi­cial Cen­ter Plaza. Inflat­a­bles, corn­hole and life-size games like Con­nect 4 and Jen­ga will be avail­able to play in this area as well.

And then there’s the music. This year the city will bring back its Busker Music Con­test, a crowd favorite that debuted at the 2019 Streets and Eats Fes­ti­val. Ten local and region­al musi­cians will play acoustic sets at three dif­fer­ent loca­tions dur­ing the fes­ti­val (Cit­i­zens Nation­al Bank alley, Judi­cial Cen­ter Plaza and Foun­tain Square), and patrons will vote for their favorites by plac­ing tokens in a buck­et where the artist is per­form­ing. The first bag of 10 tokens is free for every per­son enter­ing the fes­ti­val, and addi­tion­al bags of 10 can be pur­chased at the gate for $1. The musi­cian that receives the most tokens between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. is the win­ner and will be the open­ing act at the city’s Moon­light Fes­ti­val in Octo­ber. A sched­ule of play­ing times will be released in the com­ing weeks.

“I love this com­pe­ti­tion because it allows patrons to expe­ri­ence dif­fer­ent kinds of music as they walk through­out the fes­ti­val and cre­ates a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent atmos­phere,” Ikerd said. “We thought it would be a great way to book our first act for Moon­light Fes­ti­val and hope every­one will come out and vote for the musi­cians they love most.”

Admis­sion to Food­stock is free and gates will open at 11 a.m. Any­one enter­ing the fes­ti­val who wants to buy alco­holic bev­er­ages must first pur­chase a $5 spir­it band at the gate. Tokens for the Busker Music Con­test will be avail­able at gates as well.

May­or Alan Keck said he loves the way Food­stock will mar­ry the sto­ries of Som­er­set and Ken­tucky through the Der­by theme.

“We were of course dis­ap­point­ed when we had to can­cel our Der­by fes­ti­val, so I’m thrilled we have found a unique way to incor­po­rate this idea into one of our sig­na­ture events,” Keck said. “Cel­e­brat­ing who we are is so impor­tant in shar­ing our immense pride with peo­ple around the coun­try. When oth­ers hear that sto­ry, they want to be a part of it — and this is how we grow and thrive as a com­mu­ni­ty. I’m look­ing for­ward to kick­ing off our 2022 fes­ti­val sea­son with friends and neigh­bors and cel­e­brat­ing Som­er­set and Ken­tucky togeth­er.”

For a com­plete list of ven­dors, artists and musi­cians par­tic­i­pat­ing in Food­stock, vis­it https://seesomerset.com/event/foodstock/.