According to the website Toast, the food truck industry is on a roll. In 2022, it represented a $1.4 billion market in the United States. One reason the trucks are so popular is the “perfect combination of public interaction, promotion and the local cuisine,” says the Nationwide Auto Group. The same group says food trucks are everywhere now, unlike in the old days when finding a food truck meant going to fairs, festivals, parades and similar civic events.

The old days are coming to a close in Crawford. Up until now food trucks and wagons were only permitted under the town board’s blanket approval of community events. The Harvest Festival, UFO Fair and Shinefest all sported food trucks thanks to those approvals. In rare instances, the town clerk, with town board approval, issued individual peddlers licenses for short-term stays, but generally food trucks were banned in town.

The town is proposing a local law regulating food trucks. The rules are lengthy and transgressors will be penalized. Quiet, vendors. There’ll be no crying out or making noise to attract customers. And you won’t be able to operate within 500 feet of a business that serves similar food.

Insurance will be required, as are any applicable permits or certificates from the health and motor vehicle departments. Adherence to traffic laws is a given.

Food trucks became an issue when the new owners of the Stonehenge Farm Market wanted to park a food truck selling barbecue on its property in Bullville. Despite the planning board’s best efforts, it couldn’t squeeze the truck into any existing zoning category. Board members suggested the would-be barbecuers go to the town board with their story.

At its last meeting, the board scheduled a public hearing on the food truck law for July 18, at the next regularly scheduled board meeting.