Foodie Fridays kick off in Butler with pets night
The scent of over a dozen food trucks filled the air of Butler’s Main Street on Friday night, May 15, as the city hosted its first of this year’s Foodie Fridays.
“We have 21 food trucks and 10 craft vendors, plus live music,” said Hannah Shannon, secretary for the revitalization group Butler Downtown.
Friday night’s event was the first of four scheduled Foodie Fridays to be held between May and August, each occurring on the third Friday of the month. According to Shannon, the events are totally booked.
“We’re sold out of food vendor trucks. We’re completely maxed out on food vendors for the whole year,” Shannon said. “I would say it took two months for the list to fill out.”
Unlike other events held along Main Street, where vendors are spread out along the length of the street, Foodie Friday concentrates all of its vendors in the public parking lot behind Butler Area Public Library.
“This is all of us, all in this parking lot,” Shannon said. “We cram everyone in this little area so you know where to come to get everything and you can see what food trucks we have available. We keep everything close by right here.”
Each of this year’s four scheduled Foodie Fridays is tied to a different theme. For the first month, the theme was “Pets in the Parking Lot.”
“We have the (Butler County) Humane Society with us. They’re taking donations,” Shannon said. “And we're asking people to bring their pets down to get free pup cups at the Butler Downtown tent.”
The themes for the June, July, and August events are, respectively, “Y2K Block Party,” “Christmas in July” and “Back to School.”
Aside from food and craft vendors, a number of community organizations set up shop to pitch themselves to the public. One of these was the Butler Area Skatepark Association, a nonprofit set up last year which is advocating — and raising funds — for a new and improved skate park at Father Marinaro Park.
The skatepark association was promoting its Party in the Park event, to be held Saturday, June 27, at Father Marinaro Park.
“We noticed that our park is outdated. It’s old and it needs updating,” said Ken Clowes, founder and president of the skatepark association. “So we thought we could work with the city to get a new cement skate park. The city’s on board to help us out. We’re just doing some fundraising. In a perfect world, we're hoping that we can see a new skate park there within two years and if we can’t get it that soon, we’ll keep doing this for as long as it takes.”
Visitors to Foodie Friday have the ability to vote on their favorite trucks by scanning QR codes displayed on signs at the event and filling out the accompanying form on their mobile devices.
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Crowds gather in downtown Butler for Foodie Friday on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Crowds gather in downtown Butler for Foodie Friday on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Crowds gather in downtown Butler for Foodie Friday on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Billy Schull with Conny Creek Brewing serves costumers at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Foodie Friday attendees enjoy food from food trucks in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Eternity, 5, and Navina, 2, Hans visit Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Foodie Friday attendees visit food trucks in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Breanna Snow and Arabella Snow, 2, enjoy fries at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Brian Herold with Herold's Original Ketltle Korn bags fresh kettle corn at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Abbigail Thomas, left, holds food from High on the Hog at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Robin Madliger, left, Lexxi Cress and Emma Hesidenz attend Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Jennifer Potoka with Hot Ash Pizza cuts a pizza at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Jessica Zakrie with The Crow's Cupboard serves customers at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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The Campbell family enjoy food ordered from food trucks at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Customers order food from High on the Hog at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Jennifer Potoka with Hot Ash Pizza pulls a fresh pizza from the oven at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Makenna Eshenbaugh with D's Fair Foods preps lemons to make lemonade at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Molly Nowakowski with D's Fair Foods pours a cup of lemonade at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Brian Herold with Herold's Original Ketltle Korn bags fresh kettle corn at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Brian Herold with Herold's Original Ketltle Korn bags fresh kettle corn at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Jennifer Potoka with Hot Ash Pizza places a fresh pizza into a box at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Makenna Eshenbaugh with D's Fair Foods preps lemons to make lemonade at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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From left, Greg Smith, Sherri McKibbin, Makenna Runyan and Eva Smith enjoy food ordered from food trucks at Foodie Friday in downtown Butler on Friday, May 15, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
