Even before everyone was talking about taco trucks on every corner, Craig McCloud was trying to corner every Pittsburgh taco truck and other local taco vendors.
He and his wife, Bridget, who both love tacos, are bringing together at least a dozen taquerias for the first Pittsburgh Taco Festival.
The event is on Oct. 2 at Hop Farm Brewing on 56th Street in Lawrenceville, and has already proved to be popular with tickets selling fast. To better serve all the attendees at a small venue, the taco festival has been divided into two three-hour sessions: noon to 3 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Mr. McCloud says that splitting the event into two sessions “will allow us to increase the overall quality of the festivities.”
The McClouds are limiting sales of the $10 tickets to 2,000 per session. That gets you in and a chance to buy tacos from at least a dozen purveyors, including PGH Taco Truck, Mission Mahi, Round Corner Cantina, Doce Taqueria, Edgar's Best Tacos, La Palapa, Bakersfield, Las Palmas, El Burro, Bea’s Taco Town and Vagabond Taco Truck. You also can buy beer, of course, and other drinks, as well as frozen Mexican-style pops, or paletas, from Popsburgh, Mr. McCloud’s food cart that pops up in the Cultural District and other places.
“We knew that people like tacos, but we didn't know just how much people like tacos,” says Mr. McCloud’s brother, Jeff, who’s helping publicize the event.
They’ve decided to not have attendees vote for their favorites. “All the tacos are great,” says Craig McCloud. “We just want to celebrate tacos.”
There’ll be live music and a costume contest for Chihuahua dogs at each session. If there are tickets left to sell on the day of the event, those will cost $15.
Allegheny CleanWays, a nonprofit that works to stop dumping and littering, will have a presence at the fest. Craig McCloud is on its board of directors and says he will donate a portion of the festival proceeds.
For more, visit pghtacofest.com; for tickets, visit pghtacofest.showclix.com.
Bob Batz Jr.: bbatz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1930 and on Twitter @bobbatzjr.
First Published: September 21, 2016, 4:00 a.m.