BANGOR, Maine — With summer in full swing, many in Greater Bangor are taking advantage of the sunny weather and visiting the city's waterfront. For those looking for a convenient spot to eat while out and about, the city is partnering with local food trucks to give visitors of the waterfront a variety of foods to try.
Like shawarma from the Dreamer food truck, one of the newest additions to the waterfront. The business is owned and operated by Bangor resident and full-time nurse Anik Derphalibossian.
"We started as a pop-up restaurant, and the community just showed so much support, and we wanted to expand. Our expansion is our food truck," Derphalibossian said.
Since opening in May, Anik said they've been nothing but busy.
"We've been extremely busy," she said. "We've even been selling out of a lot of our items."
Bangor Parks and Recreation Director Tracy Willette said this is the first year all five available spots have been taken, with each truck featuring its own unique cuisine.
"We mainly do Mediterranean food, focused on Lebanese and Armenian," Derphalibossian said.
Or, if that isn't quite your style...
"We do a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, we do a pulled pork sandwich, and we're now doing a pork schnitzel," co-owner of Salt and Cedar food truck, Jessica Purvis, said.
A variety of options that locals, like Cindy Corbett and her husband, are excited to have.
"It gives us a little break from staying home, a little treat to be able to see everybody doing activities and so forth. The food was actually very good," Corbett said.
Purvis said this is their first summer setting up shop at the waterfront.
"It's been great, everybody here is great, they've been helpful it's kind of like a little food truck community," Purvis said.
The waterfront also provides much more foot traffic than the normal location they set up at in their hometown of Carmel.
"We've had people come get lunch and give us information for an event they want us to attend, so that's awesome. We wouldn't have that opportunity if we were anywhere with less foot traffic," Purvis explained.
And as the number of food trucks at the waterfront has grown, Willette said so too has the amount of folks visiting.
"The more options you can offer for folks to come down here to visit, that's certainly a benefit for everybody, and as a city amenity we try to provide that opportunity for businesses like food trucks," Willette said.
The food trucks will be open along the waterfront until the end of September, with some even serving until October.