First-Ever Food Truck Festival Fills Up Palm Springs

If your mental taste buds can dream it up, the first-ever Palm Springs Food Truck Festival served it up.

“Out To Eat” television show host Cliff Young, who can be seen on KVCR-TV, stirred Saturday’s event up for the desert — a first for the Coachella Valley.

“I was scared to death. What if nobody comes?” Young said.

It turns out the 61 food trucks at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains drew in hundreds of hungry people.

As customers stood in some long lines, vendors excitedly told tales of how their food trucks evolved from a convenience on the side of the road to a culinary treat.

“I did a food truck audition for this show called ‘The Great Food Truck Race,’ and believe it or not, never had a food truck in my life. Called me the next day said I was on the show,” Ragin’ Cajun owner Stephen Domingue said.

The former restaurant owner spent 21 “stable years” built in the ground, yet he said his heart wanted wheels.

“I’d take a food truck over a restaurant any day of the week,” Domingue said.

The cherry on top of the festival was a treat for some students in Palm Springs.

“The Palm Springs High School music department is running the refreshments, so they get the profits from that. That’s going to help replace the music equipment that was stolen last month,” Young said.

While people thanked Young and told him how much fun they had, he gave food the credit.

“Once you’re at the table with somebody, you’re on level ground, and you realize as you start talking to them, it doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what color you are. We all have the same issues,” he said.

One of those issues — hunger pains — was easily solved in Palm Springs.