by Timothy Rutt
Pictured: Danny's Farm's mobile petting farm will join the food trucks at a revitalized Fancy Food Truck Friday.
After a period of uncertainty because the county permit expired, Food Truck Friday is back on at Webster's, starting this Friday and through the end of 2012.
And the event will have a new sponsor: Danny's Farm.
Meredith Miller of Webster's Community Pharmacy said that Los Angeles County Regional Planning just approved a temporary use permit for the popular event, which brings six gourmet food trucks to the Webster's complex on the second Friday of each month for a community gathering.
The event is put together by the pharmacy, Webster's Fine Stationers, and Webster's Liquors.
Miller said that, to keep the cost of the temporary use permit at a reasonable level, the county requires that the event be sponsored by a nonprofit. After several months of being under the Altadena Chamber of Commerce umbrella, Fancy Food Truck Friday's will now be sponsored by Danny's Farm through the end of 2012.
Danny's Farm is a petting farm, particularly focused on autistic and other special needs children. It also provides employment for adults with special needs. Danny's Farm was located in Altadena until it was shut down by county code enforcement in January. It's now on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.
Cathy Gott of Danny's Farm told us in an email: "We're excited to bring Danny's Farm to the Fancy Food Truck event."
Miller said that "LA Regional planning, they were very helpful with this -- they went out of their way to help us becoming successful ... [but] the negotiating we had to do, back and forth, it was quite nutty."
The permit will let the food truck event go on through October, November, and December, 2011, followed by a three month winter break. Food Truck Fridays will resume in April, and go on under the current permit until December, 2012.
"Our fee structure total cost to do this now was $592," Miller said. "$400 of that is for inspections [the county] will hold during the permit time period. The balance of that is a permit fee as a nonprofit."
Friday's trucks include Baby's BadAss Burgers, All American Grill, Greasy Wiener, Shrimp Pimp, No Reservations and Tango Mango, as well as the Danny's Farm mobile petting zoo. It runs from 5-9 PM at the Webster's parking lot.
