By ALEXA LEWIS
Staff Writer
Photo by Christopher Evans
Easthampton resident Aimee Petrosky, left, and Alicia Hanifin of Longmeadow attend Food Truck Fridays at Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton on Friday, July 12.
Going out with friends can be challenging when clashing tastes in food make it impossible to choose a restaurant. But for Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton, the solution to this predicament is simple, and it comes rolling in on four wheels.
Behind the towering mill building on Pleasant Street that houses the brewery, a caravan of food trucks draws out crowds by the hundreds for Friday evenings full of cold beer, live music, and a rotating array of meal options. Since their inception in 2016, Food Truck Fridays have become a beloved way to kick off the weekend.
“It’s really grown … we’ve been doing them so long now, people are always looking forward to them,” said Matt Tarlecki, head brewer and owner of Abandoned Building Brewery. “It’s mutually beneficial for the brewery and for the food trucks.”
Tarlecki began transforming a ramshackle, 2,700 square foot space into a bustling brewery in 2013, designing and constructing a business that matched his vision and even painting its towering 16-foot-tall walls and ceiling. Though moving into the aging mill building required him to refinish flooring and carefully install brewing equipment, he maintained the spot’s original ambiance and historic feel.
Photo by Chrstopher Evans
Roughly 500 to 700 people attend each Food Truck Friday, reliably creating a busy night for the brewery and participating vendors. The brewery now works with about 10 food trucks that offer a diverse rotation of offerings as the event runs from May through October.
A few years after opening the Abandoned Building Brewery taproom in 2014, Tarlecki was inspired by a brewery in Charlotte, North Carolina, while visiting his wife’s family. The brewery hosted a lineup of local food trucks, bringing the community together for a good meal and a night out. It immediately struck him as an idea that would thrive in Easthampton.
“Food trucks were starting up here … they were just looking for places to go,” he said. “The popularity took off right away.”
During those first few years of Food Truck Fridays, Tarlecki recalled that the event was “much less organized than it is now.” It wasn’t until 2018 that the event “really took hold and became what it is now,” he said.
Photo by Christopher Evans
Roughly 500 to 700 people attend each Food Truck Friday, reliably creating a busy night for the participating vendors. Abandoned Building Brewery now works with about 10 food trucks that offer a diverse rotation of offerings as the event runs from May through October.
Tarlecki said that today, roughly 500 to 700 people attend each Food Truck Friday, reliably creating a busy night for the brewery and participating vendors. The brewery now works with about 10 food trucks that offer a diverse rotation of offerings as the event runs from May through October.
Ben Parra of Vegan Pizza Land, which operates a wood fire airstream out of the brewery’s beer garden throughout the week, noted that Food Truck Fridays are some of their busiest nights. Fifteen minutes before the official start of the event last Friday, dozens of hungry patrons were already lining up at the vintage airstream trailer, lured by the smell of baking vegan crusts that wafted through the space.
“We’re always super busy, so it’s a little stressful, but always a lot of fun,” said Parra. “We’re friends with a lot of the other truck operators.”
During the rare lulls in orders, Parra said that he sometimes pays visits to their fellow vendors to swap food and pleasantries.
Photo by Chrstopher Evans
La Veracruzana employees Peter Holbrook, left, and Ana Diaz prepare food during Food Truck Fridays at Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton on Friday, July 12.
This is Vegan Pizza Land’s second year at Abandoned Building Brewery, and they’ve had the chance to forge connections with the trucks that come and go.
For example, Ginger Love Cafe — a Filipino street food pop-up operation — has also become an integral part of the Food Truck Friday community.
“I was selling inside before Food Truck Friday started, and it just kind of evolved from there,” said Sherryla Diola, owner of Ginger Love Cafe. “It’s gotten a lot bigger since it started.”
“We get a lot of people here, and a lot of recurring people because they know this spot,” said Lila Kirley as she brought steaming trays of food out of the truck behind Diola.
Lined up next to trucks from Local Burger and La Veracruzana on a humid Friday evening, Dee Fernando, owner of Island Spice, called out completed orders over the sounds of excited chatter and live tunes by the local band Moon Hollow.
Photo by Chrstopher Evans
Members of the Moon Hollow band Tim Caradiello, left, and Charlie Peckar perform during Food Truck Fridays at Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton on Friday, July 12.
Fernando opened the Island Spice food truck in August 2022 to bring the flavors of her Chicopee-based Sri Lankan restaurant to more locations. From the beginning, Food Truck Friday offered the perfect venue.
“Matt [Tarlecki] gave us the opportunity to come over here to Food Truck Friday, and we’ve come ever since,” she said. “It’s a very nice event. It’s always very busy, and we love coming here.”
Other vendors that have made appearances at the event include Crazy Arepas, Vibesman Jerk Shack, Thai Chili, Caravan Kitchen, Crepes Nanou, Holyoke Hummus, and Sun Kim Bop. Tip Top Wine Shop sometimes joins in on the festivities with a selection of wines.
Adults sipped on local brews and kids devoured colorful popsicles from Crooked Stick Pops on Friday evening as the sun started to sink below the treeline and more friends and families continued to make their way across the crowded parking lot. At a standing table near the stage, Nancy Creed shielded her eyes with sunglasses as she enjoyed a cold drink and good company.
“We come to it almost every Friday,” said Creed, who said she’s been to the event since it began. “It’s given me a chance to try a lot of food I wouldn’t have tried otherwise.”
Just a few tables away, Jayde Thomas and Cameron Brodeur, attending the event for the first time, tried some beers while surveying their plentiful options for dinner. The pair had been to Abandoned Building Brewery several times before, and decided to give Food Truck Friday a try.
“They have a lot of good food here … and it’s family friendly,” said Thomas. “It’s also nice to be outside.”
The whole event is brought to life by the unique energy provided by different local musicians each Friday. Abandoned Building Brewery already had experience with procuring live music before the start of Food Truck Fridays, and Tarlecki knew it would be an important part of a successful event series. When he starts putting together the lineup of events at the beginning of the year, he makes sure to include not only a diverse selection of food, but also a variety of musical talent.
Photo by Christopher Evans
Ginger Love owner Sherryla Diola prepares food beside the restaurant’s converted school bus during Food Truck Fridays at Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton.
“There’s a lot of great musicians in the Valley, so there’s no shortage,” he said.
Food Truck Fridays will continue running on select Fridays through October from 5 to 9 p.m. Last call takes place at 8:45 p.m. For a complete list of dates, visit abandonedbuildingbrewery.com. Lists of participating vendors and entertainers are made available shortly before each event.
Tarlecki emphasized that there are no entry fees for patrons or vendors.
“It’s a really fun community event,” he said. “People have fun drinking good beers, listening to good music, and eating good food.”
Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.
