Food truck festival benefits Lower Burrell VFC No. 3

Before it even began, the Lower Burrell VFC No. 3 fundraiser on Saturday afternoon was a raging success.

The event, billed as a food truck festival, was scheduled to run 1 to 6 p.m. But by noon, the parking lot of the fire company along Leechburg Road was bustling with hundreds of people browsing the 19 vendors that served up ribs, fresh-chopped burgers, gyros, dumplings, funnel cake and craft beer, among other items.

“This is a wholesome event, something to get the community back together and out of the winter blues,” Assistant Chief Brennan Sites said. “The support is overwhelming.”

In all, he expected more than 4,000 people to show up to support the fire company on Saturday. He thanked the city officials from Lower Burrell for their support, as well as all who came out.

Sites said two similar fundraisers are scheduled later this year on July 24 and Oct. 9.

The department, founded in 1929, has 50 active members. They respond to about 400 fire calls and more than 2,000 EMS calls each year.

Proceeds from the event will be used to buy new equipment for the company’s engine and rescue truck, Sites said.

It costs up to $12,000 to properly outfit each firefighter, he said.

Last year’s inaugural food truck festival brought in enough money to help pay for new SCBA units for 18 volunteers, the total of which was about $110,000. Sites declined to say how much last year’s event brought in but said it “was a good amount.”

As people milled between food booths and other vendors, the scent from sizzling grills and fryers filled the air.

Tommy DelVecchio, a food truck owner and third-generation butcher from Vandergrift, grilled his specialty Smash Burger, complete with two patties, habanero and ghost pepper cheese, bacon jam and bacon strips.

“The meat was ground this morning,” he said, from behind the grill.

Across the parking lot, Andy and Delaney Tevelonis from Conny Creek Brewing dished up samples of their Premo – “your grandfather’s beer, one they drank after a shift at the steel mill,” and their Neverclear, “hoppy but not bitter.”

The brewery sits not too far away, along Shearsburg Road in Allegheny Township . Tevelonis said the brewery truck makes the rounds at fire company festivals throughout the year.

Retired firefighter Mandie Dennett from Butler brought the Firehouse Subs food truck, where the specialty is the Hook and Ladder, a turkey and ham hoagie. Dennett said the food truck routinely donates 20% of its sales to fire departments across the region.

Kristin Palaniuk of Lower Burrell said her boyfriend is an 18-year member of the fire company and she was thrilled with the turnout so early in the day.

“This is his life,” she said. “I love that everyone is here to support them.”