CHATHAM – Food trucks will be coming to the popular “Mondays on Main” in Chatham on a trial basis this summer as selectmen try to develop more specific details about where the trucks can operate.
Mondays on Main began last summer as a way to draw people downtown with a weekly live music festival on what organizers said was the slowest night of the week.
One of the main criticisms organizers of the event heard was there were not enough food choices available.
To combat this issue, the idea of adding local food trucks to the Mondays on Main was proposed, however the idea is facing serious opposition from downtown restaurant owners.
“I find it very unfair to even think that a mobile unit or an outside business would be allowed to come downtown on just a premium night,” said Rebecca Segura, owner of Chatham Cookware Café.
“There’s nineteen restaurants, I can’t imagine there is a food shortage anywhere.”
Selectmen had no problem issuing 63 individual entertainment permits for the summer but balked at allowing food trucks on all nine nights Mondays on Main runs.
Board members agreed to allow the food trucks to operate during four of the Mondays on Main nights, July 8th and 22nd, and August 5th and 19th.
Although food trucks have been allowed downtown for special events, including “First Night” and “Oktoberfest”, the town lacks specific regulations governing where and when they can operate.
The Chatham Merchants Association, the sponsor of Mondays on Main, reached out to Mom and Pops Burgers of West Chatham, a member of the association which recently started a food truck operation, and met with Kyra Travis the restaurant’s general manager who is also in charge of the food truck.
“The merchants don’t want to take business away from anyone, downtown or otherwise,” said Jenn Allard, Mondays on Main committee head and Chatham Merchants Association member
The original plan called for the truck to be located at the Cape Cod Five parking lot so that it would not be directly adjacent to any restaurant, but the bank withdrew its permission.
Roundabout Gas at the rotary and Eldredge and Lumpkin at 697 Main Street both agreed to host the truck.
David Oppenheim, who owns the Wayside Inn as well as the building in which Chatham Cookware Café is located, said he was unaware of the food truck plan until early last month and questioned whether the merchants’ board of directors or chamber of commerce officials had voted on or discussed the idea.
Merchants President Susan Dimm said the plan had been discussed for the last six months and was supported by the board.
Previous food truck operations downtown have been during one-day events in the off-season and did not affect other restaurants, but having a truck on Main Street during the height of the summer season will have a direct impact, Oppenheim said.
The town has a zoning bylaw relegating permanent food truck operations to the industrial zone, and allowing a food truck downtown could run afoul of other regulatory agencies, such as the historic business district commission.
A hot dog cart operated at last year’s Mondays on Main, run by Larry’s PX, a West Chatham business.
Selectmen Chair Shareen Davis said town received a number of emails in support of the Mom and Pops food truck.
Along with feedback about the lack of food choices, organizers were told that there were not enough bands to cover Main Street from the rotary to 400 Main, Allard added.
This year, instead of four to six bands per night there will be seven to eight bands.
Mondays on Main will run for nine weeks, every Monday from July 1st to August 26th from 6 to 9 p.m. with a theme each night such as last weeks “Celebrate the Fourth of July” theme.
By: LUKE LEITNER, CapeCod.com News Center
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