The Dogwood Festival returns to Festival Park in Fayetteville for its 41st year this weekend. Starting Thursday night, his four-day event features concerts, carnival rides, craft his vendors, and activities for kids.
But one of the most anticipated products is food. Food trucks, trailers, wheelbarrows and tents from all over the region, serving everything from empanadas and barbecue to donuts and ice cream.
With so many choices, it’s easy to miss your favourites. Here’s a guide to dining at the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival.
cork & fork
The festival kicks off at 6pm on Thursdays with Coke & Fork, a food and wine event. Single tickets at thedogwoodfestival.com/tickets are $40 or $75 for couples and include snacks, beer and wine from local, regional and chain restaurants.
Fayetteville-owned establishments serving food and beverages at the event include Bees & Boards Charcuterie Co., Guatemala Centro America, Gaston Brewing Company, Southern Coals, H8ters, Blue Moon Cafe and Rude Awakening Coffee House.
Other dining options include Barney’s Sweets & More, Bubba’s 33, Chicken Salad Chick, Bonefish Grill, Karaba’s Italian Grill, Duck Donuts and Zaksby’s.
According to the event’s vendor page, here are the food trucks and food trailers you can find at the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival.
food truck
Big Erv BBQ & 910 Sweets offers brisket and ribs with sides such as pulled pork and turkey, grilled chicken wings, macaroni and cheese, baked beans and French fries. Fayetteville’s food truck also offers sweet treats such as his banana puddings and cupcakes.
Mac’s Grill Aroma is a Fayetteville food truck serving burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, shrimp and grits, and French fries.
Knightsdale-based Latin food truck Mike Nice Empanada specializes in empanadas. You can choose beef, chicken, or cheese for your fried pastry. Or choose from fillings inspired by Birria Tacos, Buffalo Chicken, or Philadelphia Cheesesteak.
Party in a Pita serves Mediterranean cuisine including gyros, shawarma and falafel. Raleigh food trucks also offer stuffed vine leaves, tabouli salad, hummus and baba ganouji plates starting at $5.
Fayetteville’s food truck, Tanks & Franks, offers specialty hot dogs with toppings such as crumbled fritos, jalapeños, coney sauce, bacon, scallions, macaroni and cheese on top of the popular Midwestern Kegel hot dog. We provide dogs. Sides include fries and waffle fries.
Food truck Off the Hook Seafood & Chicken in Greensboro serves fried shrimp, fried whiting, wings and chicken tenders. The truck also serves Italian iced and funnel cakes.
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sweet treats and drinks
Salisbury-based food vendor Bayou Billy Sweet Dixie Tea of the Carolina serves sweet tea on tap in signature tin mugs.
Founded in Pennsylvania, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream is a chain of nearly 200 ice cream parlors along the East Coast that serves homemade ice cream and desserts such as sherbet and Italian ice cream.
Cool Breezes, a Durham food trailer, offers a slushy-like frozen drink filled with pineapple and topped with fruits like pineapple and strawberries. Dairy-free tropical treats such as pina coladas, peaches and mangoes.
Drizzle D’s is a Raleigh-based artisanal donut and drink trailer that offers miniature donuts in flavors such as apple pie, French toast, peanut butter cups and maple bacon. Drinks include Frost’s Lemonade and Frozen Cappuccino.
Kona Ice, a shaved ice food truck franchise with hundreds of stores nationwide, brings shaved ice to the festival.
Charlotte-based food trailer Moose Joe’s Slush offers frozen slushy drinks starting at $7 with half-price refills. Customers can create their own slushies in flavors such as blue raspberry, cherry, chia wine, sour his apple, and pina colada.
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store
This is a sample of a stall offering fried decadence, sweet treats, and food on sticks.
Raleigh’s food vendor, D&J Concessions, offers fair food such as corn dogs, turkey legs and sausages. The concession stand also has desserts such as soft serve ice cream, funnel cakes, and fried Oreos.
Leisure Time Concessions, a food vendor based in Manakin Sabot, Virginia, offers jumbo corn dogs, chicken tenders, and French fries. The concession stand also has desserts such as soft serve ice cream, funnel cakes, and fried Oreos.
Tropical Island Concessions, Raleigh’s food vendor, offers fried items such as blooming onions, corn dogs, funnel cakes, sausages, steak and cheese sandwiches, burgers, and fries.
Taylor Shook writes about food, food and business for The Fayetteville Observer. Her contact is her tshook@gannett.com. twitter, or Facebook. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.