More than 40 food trucks are rolling into the Franklin County Fairgrounds in Hilliard this weekend as the Columbus Food Truck Festival kicks off Friday at 4 p.m. and runs through Saturday at 10 p.m. Festival founder and owner Chas Kaplan leads the event, which organizers say will include live music, a special kids day, and a lineup of vendors ranging from longtime favorites to newcomers like Grateful Griddle.
As reported by WSYX, the two-day event brings together dozens of mobile kitchens alongside music performances and other activities that organizers describe as staples of the weekend. Grateful Griddle, owned by Lance Robinson, is among the trucks participating in this year's festival. The event has grown considerably since its earliest days, and this year marks its 15th anniversary at a time when the festival has firmly established itself as a fixture of the Hilliard summer calendar.
From Downtown Commons to Suburban Fairgrounds
The festival didn't start in Hilliard. According to Hilliard Beacon, the event originated in 2011 at the Columbus Commons before relocating to the Scioto Mile in 2017, pausing in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally settling into its current home at the Franklin County Fairgrounds in 2021. That inaugural 2011 gathering launched with just 20 food trucks and no operating budget, yet still drew 20,000 visitors to the Commons, according to footage posted on YouTube documenting the festival's origins.
Fifteen years later, organizers expect the 2026 edition to draw more than 25,000 visitors across the two days, per a report from Columbus Real Estate News. That would make it one of the larger regional food truck gatherings in the Midwest, a scale that traces directly back to the modest downtown event of a decade and a half ago.
Music Headliners and a Reality TV Guest Appearance
Turntablist DJ Logic and pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph and Friends are set to headline the festival's main stage on Saturday at 7:45 p.m., according to 10TV. The lineup gives the festival a national musical presence beyond its local food truck roots.
Also drawing attention this year is Jordan Faeth, a Columbus media personality and cast member from Season 10 of Netflix's Love Is Blind, who is scheduled to make a special guest appearance on Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., per the same 10TV report. The appearance is likely to pull in reality TV fans who might not otherwise make the trip to Hilliard for food trucks alone.
Tickets, Parking and What Else to Expect
Advance admission was priced at $5 through August 9 before rising to $10 through Friday, according to Audacy. Gate admission climbs further to $15 after 4 p.m. on Saturday, though children 10 and under get in free. Admission tickets include free on-site parking at the fairgrounds on a first-come, first-served basis, with free street parking also available on surrounding Hilliard roadways.
Beyond the trucks, the festival includes a marketplace of more than two dozen local artisans, craft makers, and retail pop-ups, according to the Audacy report. Organizers have also expanded family programming for the 15th anniversary, adding a bigger Saturday Kids Zone and a Kids Market showcase featuring 30 youth entrepreneurs between ages 5 and 12 selling their own products, per the Columbus Food Truck Festival's own event listing.
A Philanthropic Track Record
The festival's growth hasn't been purely commercial. Since its founding in 2011, organizers have donated more than $115,000 in proceeds to local Central Ohio non-profits and charities, including Music Loves Ohio and Besa, according to Destination Hilliard. That charitable thread has run alongside the event's expansion from a scrappy downtown pop-up into a fairgrounds-sized weekend destination, giving Hilliard both an economic boost and a philanthropic legacy tied to one weekend each August.
