Gypsy Food Trailer Picnic 2010

Living in Austin is always an adventure, we've got a wide variety of activities and eating options available to us but we're becoming well known for two things: food trailers and live music. Given this, it should come as no surprise that on November 6 the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) put together the first annual Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival. HAAM is a very cool organization that puts together a few large events each year to help support their mission which is to assist local professional musicians who are uninsured, receive for low-cost primary health care services, basic dental care and mental health counseling, a very worthy cause. HAAM pulled together 30+ food trailers/vendors who came from all over the city along with a great line up of live music at Auditorium Shores.



The weather was stunning, cloudless, sunny and in the 70s but the lines were insane! This event had no admission fees, couple that with a $3 tasting portion available at all of the trailers (as well as select items from their regular menus) and you get TONS of people! One local news station reported thousands of people were in attendance with people waiting 20 minutes or more in line and vendors running out of food! I can attest to the wait times, 30 minutes to get BBQ and the people, we had a terrible time finding parking and then navigating the park was a bit dicey as there were people, dogs, kids and food everywhere you turned. No complaints here though because overall this event was very cool and I can't wait until next year's to see what kind of improvements they make and great things they'll have in store.



My boyfriend and I took the dog out with us, he managed to taste more things than we did I think!




Our first line was by far the longest, we hit the Sugar Shack for a little bite of BBQ (ok, little is an understatement, the "tasting" menus were pretty much full-sized meals). We got to taste the Notorious P.I.G. Wrap from Sugar Shack which was delicious, slaw and all!



Then later we snacked on a Flying Pig donut (yes it's a heart attack but it was so worth it!!) from Gourdoughs. Yes that's a maple donut with bacon covering it!





All in all, the music, food and festivities made battling the crowds worth it.