Food trucks, street performers part of new Elgin festival

Food trucks, buskers, bike safety lessons and activities for kids and adults will mark the first outdoor festival created with Elgin's Riverside Drive in mind.

Bikes and Bites on the Fox will take place 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday on the promenade, which lies along the Fox River Bike Trail and was inaugurated last summer. The festival was organized by the Elgin Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, which hopes it will become an annual event. May is National Bike Month.

“I love food trucks, so I wanted to figure out how to get them down here,” said Krisilee Murphy, the bureau's director of marketing. “It's also our way to get the people off the bike trail. So many people go right through downtown Elgin and don't bother to stop, so we wanted to pull them off the bike trail.”

Food truck selections will include cupcakes from Auntie Vee's, hot dogs from Golden Eagle, Italian meatballs from Getta Polpetta, shaved ice from Kona Ice, and coffee and BBQ from MJ's Coffee Car.

Golden Eagle food truck owner Michael Batt of Bartlett, a regular at the Elgin Harvest Market, said he loves the idea of making food trucks the centerpiece. “If the weather holds up, it will be a great community event,” he said.

There will be a farmers market with flowers, vegetables, cheeses, eggs, meat and honey, plus an adult bags tournament, an “instrument petting zoo” offered by the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and much more, Murphy said.

There also will be buskers, or outdoor street performers, including belly dancers and a “Stomp”-like ensemble from the Boys and Girls Club of Elgin, Councilwoman Carol Rauschenberger said. Buskers can't solicit money but people are free to donate, she said, adding that she hopes buskers will become a regular feature in Elgin.

“We have the whole downtown and the whole Riverside Drive that could be great for buskers and bringing people downtown ... and have something to see and do while you're downtown,” she said.

Anyone interested in busking in Elgin can call (847) 873-9995. Busking guidelines can be found at downtownelgin.com.