5 reasons to go to Foodstruck York

If you go

What: Foodstruck York

When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6

Where: Penn Park, 143 W. College Ave., York

Parking: Free parking is available at the Market Street, Philadelphia Street and King Street parking garages. Other free lots include Junior Achievement (610 S. George St.), Crispus Attucks (22 S. Duke St.), St. Patrick's Catholic Church after noon (231 S. Beaver St.), William Penn High School (101 W. College St.), City of York Lot 13 (corner of Kings Mills Road, Lafayette Street and Manor Street), City Hall (101 S. George St.), Susan Byrnes Health Education Center (515 S. George St.). No parking is available on the streets adjacent to Penn Park. Check the Foodstruck York Facebook page for more information about shuttles.

Cost: Free admission.

Beer Garden: Those 21 and older can purchase $5 tokens at the festival, each worth one 12-oz. pour. Or, pre-register for the $15 VIP package, which gets you three drink tokens, a souvenir glass and the opportunity to avoid the check-in line.

Note: Event is rain or shine.

For more information: Visit foodstruckyork.com .

Food trucks, beer and live music — the concept sounds familiar.

Those three elements make up a good chunk of the region's summer festivals.

But when you have close to 40 regional food trucks, more than 20 types of beer and close to 20,000 people all at one centralized downtown York location, you can only be talking about one event: Foodstruck York.

The fourth free-admission food truck party returns to Penn Park Sept. 6.

The festival was started by a group of York volunteers in August 2013 as a way to bring the food truck experience — which was a relatively new concept at the time — to York.

"Since 2013, food trucks have become much more pervasive," organizer Meagan Feeser said. "You can find them everywhere, and there are a lot more festivals popping up."

Festival organizers have made several changes to the event this year, which they hope will bring more people downtown to join in the fun.

Here are five reasons to go to Foodstruck.

1. You can try lobster rolls, Greek fries, po'boys and pork buns all in one place.

It's not a food truck party without fan favorites like Baron Von Schwein's pork buns, Uncle Paul's Stuffed Pretzels, Souvlaki Boys' Greek fries and The Cow & The Curd's fried cheese curds, Feeser said.

But festival-goers will also see several new trucks.

Agin Cajun, for example, will offer Cajun-style po' boys and other New Orleans cuisine, while York City Pretzel Co. will add its homemade pretzels to the mix.

One of the most exciting trucks coming this year is the Surf and Turf Truck, which specializes in lobster rolls, Feeser said. The truck couldn't make it to last year's festival, but it was very popular the year before, maintaining a two-hour line all night long, Feeser said.

The best way to try a little bit of everything? Come with a group of friends and divide and conquer.

"Check the list ahead of time, make out a plan of attack and everyone go stand in a different line and then come back together," she said.

2. The beer Garden offers 50 percent more beer.

Last year, festival-goers said they wanted more beer with their food, and this year, Foodstruck organizers listened.

Instead of serving small beer samples, Foodstruck will offer full 12-oz. pours at the Treasure Island Beer Garden.

"What we discovered was people wanted to focus on tasting their food and just wanted their beer," Feeser said. "They wanted less emphasis on trying different beers (and more on) having a full drink to have with their food."

Those 21 and over will have their choice of about 20 types of beer from 12 breweries — a 50-percent increase from last year's event, organizer Matt Davis said. Davis is co-owner of the CrocodileDog Marketing team, which puts on other local beer festivals, such as Yorktoberfest, Taste of PA Wine and Music Festival and Hibrewnation.

"(The beer garden) will have a very different feel to it," Davis said. "Last year, we didn't have any brewers show up. This year, the main brewers will be there."

The breweries include New Belgium, Starr Hill, Deschutes, Yards, Great Lakes and Gift Horse, he said.

All 12-oz. pours will cost one token, which is equivalent to $5. Or, guests can pre-register for the $15 VIP package, which gets them three drink tokens, a souvenir glass and the opportunity to avoid the line for tokens. And with 20,000 guests, Feeser said guests can expect the lines to get long.

3. Wine is now available.

Don't like beer? No worries. For the first time, Foodstruck will also offer wine and wine slushies by the glass and by the bottle. Participating wineries include Jackson Square, Allegro, Bee Kind and Adams County Vineyards.

4. Your favorite local bands are back.

What's better than eating and drinking with friends? Listening to live music while you do it. Foodstruck will bring back four festival favorites from previous years, including Mount Wolf folk rock band The Lone Wolf Project, York singer Dana Alexandra, York rock band The Plums and multi-instrumentalist and singer Eric Torres (Devix). New this year will be York band Port Ellis, known for its soulful indie and ambient rock style.

5. Next year's event might not be the same.

Now that food trucks are able to operate in the city and are more accessible to the public, Feeser said it leaves Foodstruck organizers to "question what the future of the event might look like."

Putting on Foodstruck as a group of volunteers is a huge undertaking, she said. But that doesn't mean Foodstruck is going away.

"Foodstruck will live on in some form, but we're not entirely sure what it looks like yet."