COVID-19 Friendly Event Returns To Support Local Businesses

HERNDON, VA — What started as way to help local businesses struggling through last year's COVID-19 restrictions has now morphed into a somewhat permanent weekly event for one Herndon neighborhood.

Every Thursday, around 4 p.m., residents in the Kingstream community begin to line up and order their dinners from a food truck parked at 1430 Kingsvale Circle in Herndon.

Early last summer the Kingstream Community Council closed down its swimming pool because of the pandemic. Although the neighborhood's basketball courts and playground were eventually reopened for socially distanced play, neighbors were looking for something special to do to lift spirits in the community.

During a council meeting, someone mentioned a friend whose neighborhood had brought in a food truck and somebody else asked if anyone knew someone with a truck.

"I raised my hand and said, 'Our good friends own a food truck. I can see if they can come,'" said Missy Jakovcic Galus, whose day job is teaching science at Thoreau Middle School. "People seemed really excited about it."

With the council's blessing, Galus reached out her friends who own Rescue Barbecue in Leesburg. Although they wouldn't be able to participate immediately, they wanted to bring their truck out on a future date because they really needed the business.

"They told me these trucks were really struggling," Galus said, which gave her the idea to have a different food truck set up in the Kingstream neighborhood once a week.

With the council's approval, Galus teamed up with Valerie Wasserman Cohen to launch Kingstream Food Truck Thursdays.

"Our first truck was in the second week of July last year," Galus said. "We filled our calendar with every Thursday from July to October. People were begging us to do it over the winter, but we needed a break, because we both have full-time jobs."

In response to the continued demands from their neighbors, Galus and Cohen brought Kingstream Food Truck Thursdays back at the beginning of April for a whole new season. They already have every week booked through October.

"Our biggest goal was to support local, small business," Galus said. "That was my big thing. I want to support local, small business and help them through this COVID time."

Rather than bring in multiple food trucks every Thursday, Galus and Cohen decided to invite just one per week. That way, the truck owner who set up wouldn't have to compete with another business and therefore would have a better night.

"For some people, that is their job. They own a food truck," Galus said. "They rely on going somewhere, an industrial park or down to D.C. or some event every day. A lot of them do dinner at nights too. With all the wineries, breweries, and festivals being canceled, they were struggling. So our goal was to get a different truck every week."

On some Thursdays, a second truck specializing in serving desserts will also set up, if the primary truck doesn't offer any desserts on its menu.

None of the organizers are being paid for running Food Truck Thursdays, Galus said. They're doing to help the business and offer something nice for the community.

"We kind of did it to have a community event during COVID, making sure everyone was socially distanced and wearing a mask, everyone followed all the rules and everyone seemed to enjoy it," Galus said. "They were happy and we've really seen no decline this year."

Food Truck Thursdays is not limited to the 400 or so households that make up the Kingstream community. Anyone can come by. The truck sets up at 4 p.m., every Thursday, at 1430 Kingsvale Circle, and stays open until 8 p.m.

Himalayan Soul Foods of Alexandria will be bringing its food truck this Thursday to Kingstream. The truck specializes in Himalayan-style cooking, including steamed dumplings or "momo," which is a delicacy in Nepal and Tibet. Food can be pre-ordered online and picked up at the truck on Thursday night.

In addition, the Twisted Sweets truck will also be setting up this week, offering a traditional Hungarian dessert called Kürtős kalács, which is a chimney cake filled with ice cream.

To get the latest updates about which food trucks will be turning up throughout the season, join the Kingstream Food Truck Fans Facebook Group.

Here are the food trucks that will be setting up in Kingstream over the next month:

• May 20: Himalayan Soul Foods (momo dumplings) and Twisted Sweets (chimney cakes filled with ice cream)
• May 27: Little Lady Grill (sandwiches)
• June 3: Ford's On The Roa (seafood) and 1000 Milkshakes (ice cream)
• June 10: Paella and Tapas Place (Spanish and tapas food)