Jingle Eve offers gift options in Ivanhoe Village.

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Jingle Eve happen every December in Ivanhoe Village. All the shops on Virginia Avenue are open late and Mark Baratelli‘s Food Truck Bazaar supplies the food. I had to pick up a painting from Bare Foot Spa which is on Virginia so I got a sketch and an errand done with one trip. Artist John Glassman Gardner discussed a project he started in which he pays artists to fill a page in a sketchbook. I offered to fill a page, but the sketchbook is still making the rounds in some artists studio.You might notice that even in December, Orlandoens dress in T Shirts, shorts and sandals. You gotta love that.

I didn’t buy anything on this sketch outing but I discovered a glass shop that had all the tools and supplies needed to create stained glass windows. Bare Foot Spa (801 Virginia Dr, Orlando, Florida) always has exhibits of local artists in the front room. An exhibit curated by Parker Sketch will be opening this Saturday September 9th from 6pm to 9pm. The show is titled Television and it features art of television personalities, art of televisions, art of anything related to televisions. Here you will see classic television shows, cartoon characters, Atari, the evening news, and more. This show features 30 pieces of art by 17 different artists. I submitted one sketch done of Brian Feldman on the evening that all the analog signals were switched off. He had one analog TV for each station and one by one the sets switched to static. On that day if you had an analog TV, it became a relic and you had to go out and buy a digital TV. I wonder how much TV sales spiked around the country on that day. Anyway, stop on out to the opening if you are in Ivanhoe Village that day and say hi.

Purple Pride immediately siezes Orlando.

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I was going to Falcon Bar (819 E Washington St, Orlando, FL) or Mystery Sketch Theater which has a cos-play model taking poses for artists once a month. Streets were blocked off and I found myself walking besides runners in a 5K race. Everyone was wearing purple tee shirts. I heard an announcer and walked towards the noise. A finish line was set up on the East side of Lake Eola Park on Washington Street.

A Food Truck Bazaar were set up beyond the finish line and hungry runners lined up for food. I sketched the purple Orlando Soccer truck. Soccer has been promoted with a vengeance and   Orlando City Soccer Club logos, murals and stickers are all over town. Lion heads appear everywhere. The renovated Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium is now packed for every game. I haven’t figured out who to contact yet about sketching a game. I feel I need to report on a team that has quickly become as known as the Orlando Magic basketball team. With the US team doing better in the international soccer competitions, the fan base keeps growing.

Mark Baratelli of the Daily City had organized all the food trucks. He showed me a paper that he now publishes that shows where to find each food truck bazaar all around Central Florida.  I admire the marketing prowess of the Orlando City Soccer Club and Mark’s entrepreneurial spirit. After I finished my sketch I walked over to the Falcon Bar to squeeze a few more sketches into my day.

Cardboard Art Festival

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Saturday January 26th was the second day of the Cardboard Art Festival at the Orange Studio (1121 N Mills Ave, Orlando). This was a day for the kids to experience the exhibit and make their own cardboard creations. The carpeted area that had been the dance floor the night before  now had folding tables cluttered with the detritus of creativity. Parents were helping their kids cut the cardboard and robots began to take form.

I decided to sit back under some cardboard carnivores and sketch  Nathan Selikoff‘s tall cardboard man marionette. Kids, young and old alike, couldn’t resist pulling the strings. Having control of a giant’s movements can be addictive. Event sponsor, Mark Baratelli walked up to me and announced,  with a Marlene Dietrich flourish, “I do it all for the kids.” He then leaned against the wall and checked his cell phone for messages about the next Food Truck Bazaar happening that night. Later, he was ready to leave holding a thick stack of Food Truck Bazaar signs. He was off to his next event.

Evan and Chritie Miga helps kids into the new Dog Powered Robot dune buggy for photo ops. An old record player nestled inside a cardboard TV was playing Polkas and The Tiki Room music. The music added a surreal, playful atmosphere to the proceedings. Like in a Disney theme park, individual robots from Dog Powered Robot came out from back stage to pose for photos with the kids. Someone shouted out for a group photo and all the kids stood in front of me with their creations.

As Terry and I left, I saw Mark get back out of his car. I thought he had left some time ago. I shouted out, “You didn’t get very far!” He shouted back, “That’s the story of my life! You didn’t need to point it out.”

Food Truck Bazaar

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Mark Baratelli sent me an e-mail letting me know that he had a framed “Best Of” award for the Mennello Museum mural that I did. He was hosting an Orlando Food Truck Bazaar at Fashion Square Mall and he said he would have the award with him. I of course would travel any distance for such a major award. The sun had set by the time I got to the Bazaar. About 35 food trucks were circled up, like western covered wagons. The first two trucks, Firehouse BBQ and Twisted Cuban were the brightest trucks in the bazaar with flashing lights and bright red paint. I sat down in the middle of the “coral” and started sketching.

Unfortunately, by the time I was finishing the sketch, many of the food trucks were running out of food. Viveca Averstedt of “swedeDISH” food truck looked over my shoulder to admire my work. Her blue truck with yellow stripes was also running out of food and they were cleaning up. She offered me an onion and cheese pie dish. I asked, “how much.” And she offered it to me on the house. It was absolutely delicious. The crust was light and flaky and the cheese and baked onion pie was sweet and rich. It came with a side salad with a tangy vinaigrette dressing. I might be tempted to come out to the next food truck bazaar to see what else she has on the menu.

Mark Baratelli found me and gave me the award for the Mennello museum mural. He said it was a good turn out with 1,500 people stopping out during the course of the evening. These bazaars are spreading throughout Central Florida and the trend continues to grow. People love to come out on cool winter nights to sample the food and relax in lawn and camping chairs. A few days later, I saw the swedeDISH food truck parked beside Tom & Jerry’s Lounge near the Enzian. It seems quite a few food trucks park there in their off hours.

Wednesday Night Food Truck Pod

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TheDailyCity.com hosted a food truck pod (6-7 trucks) an the Trinity Downtown soccer field (Ruth Lane at Amelia Street) Wednesday August 3, 2011. The pod will offered a relaxed, quiet, family-friendly atmosphere in which to enjoy delicious food from some of the area’s top food trucks.

I decided to go. I called Terry who works downtown and she said it was raining really hard. I looked out my window at home and the sun was blazing. Getting into my truck I knew I was driving into the storm. Sure enough, half way into town it began to pour. It was the kind of rain that made me feel like I was driving in a waterfall. The wipers couldn’t work fast enough. My passenger side wiper came loose and the rubber part was barely in the mechanism whipping chaotically through the air. It was so bad I considered turning around but I plowed straight ahead hoping the rain would clear long enough for me to sketch. By the time I parked north of Lake Eola, the rain had stopped.

I love the old wooden houses on Amelia Street. Some look like the historical homes of Savannah. One house was gutted, getting a full renovation. Most of the homes date back to the 1920’s. This is the type of old neighborhood I would love to live in some day. I knew I was close to the food trucks when I could hear generators. The soccer field grass was wet, moistening my hiking boots. I leaned back against the goal post and got to work. Thunder rumbled on the horizon.

The field was populated by about 50 or so people who had braved the weather. Two workers from the Korean Taco Box Truck came over to watch me work for a while. They liked that their truck was in the foreground. When I was finished I decided to get a shrimp Po-Boy sandwich from the Fish Company food truck. The sandwich and a coke came to $12 which was more than I expected. I sat on the soccer field bleachers with many others. Poppy seeds from the sandwich kept raining into my lap.

I spoke to Mark Baratelli who organized the event. He said he only had 3 days to promote the event. He was carrying 11 by 17 inch posters promoting the Wednesday night event. I left feeling satiated. When I got back into my truck it began to rain again. A soft drizzle followed me home. Back home I watched weathermen as they tried to track Tropical Storm Emily.

Food Truck Bazaar

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On Father’s Day I met Terry and Amanda at the Food Truck Bazaar. The event took place at the Fashion Square Mall (East Colonial Drive and Maguire). I couldn’t find the event at first so I drove aimlessly through the Mall parking lot circling around the Mall as best I could. Anytime I am near a mall I feel like I am out of my element. I finally spotted a tent and then the trucks.

I sat in the shade of a tree and got to work. It was blisteringly hot. The Winter Park Fish Company truck was elaborately decorated so that became my focus. Mark Baratelli who organized the event came over to say hello. He was a bit nervous that attendance might be down. He suggested I sketch a few more people. The trucks were lined up on opposite sides of the parking lot. In the center of the lot Ford was offering test drives in a program called “Drive with Purpose.” Mark explained that they were giving away $8 vouchers good for any food truck if you took a test drive.

An RV full of friends and children drove from Coco Beach to experience the Bazaar. People sat in lawn chairs and folding tables they had carted from home. One family had their own tent set up in the parking lot. They kept angling the size of the four legs as the sun dipped lower toward the horizon. A large group of bikers sucked down water and calories.

Mark went back to a table where he was selling water. He must have been coaching his volunteers on how to best sell water because he started doing a hilarious jig and he tossed a water bottle in the air like a baton. He missed and the water crashed to the pavement. Terry and Amanda arrived and I finished up my sketch. We ordered several Salvadorian meat filled pupusas. Then we tried several fish tacos from the Winter Park Fish Company truck as well as a delicious Tuna kabob. Baxter, Amanda’s dog was a nervous wreck. His tail was curled under between his hind legs and he wasn’t happy unless he sat in her lap like a cat.

Just as I finished my fish taco it began to rain. We all dashed to our cars for cover.

If you want to catch a Food Truck Bazaar, here are future dates…

June 26 | 6-10pm | Parliament House

JULY

July 10 | 6-10pm | Oviedo Mall

July 17 | 6-10pm | Fashion Square Mall

July 24 | 6-10pm | Parliament House

AUGUST

Aug 14 | 6-10pm | Oviedo Mall

Aug 21 | 6-10pm | Fashion Square Mall

Aug 28 | 6-10pm | Parliament House