Skip to main content
All Posts By

Tony Gill

Tony Gill is the outdoor and Park City editor for Salt Lake Magazine and previously toiled as editor-in-chief of Telemark Skier Magazine. Most of his time ignoring emails is spent aboard an under-geared single-speed on the trails above his home.

Mar 07
Love0
SkiCity_ResortsMarch2017_HiRez_AustenDiamondPhotography_31

New Union Keeps Park City Lifts Turning

By City Watch

The loud buzzing horn usually perks up the confused, anxious crowd. It means the lift is about to start turning again, but sometimes not without a little nudge. “If the lift stops it’s usually just because someone fell off at the top,” says Liesl Jenkins, a Park City Mountain lift mechanic. “Otherwise, it’s just some minor nuisance’s fault or something like a lift operator forgetting to pull the stop button out.”

Jenkins and her colleagues quite literally keep the lifts running. When we spoke in the season’s early days, her team was waiting on a new gearbox to arrive for McConkey’s Express, a six-person detachable lift accessing some of the steepest expert terrain at Park City Mountain. Sounds complicated, but Jenkins assured me it was a quick job once the appropriate parts arrived. Guests would never notice anyone working on it, and suddenly the lift would be spinning. Much like ski patrollers, lift maintenance mechanics and electricians perform a ton of behind the scenes work that allows the resort to operate. And just like Park City’s ski patrollers, the resort’s lift mechanics have formed a union to support their often-underappreciated work.

“The final tally really solidified the validity of the unionization effort,” Jenkins says of the 35-to-six vote in favor of joining a union. Employment in the ski industry has become an increasingly fraught topic in recent years. Skyrocketing housing prices and cost-of-living increases in mountain communities have made hiring difficult. Meanwhile employers had become accustomed to exchanging meager pay for a romanticized outdoor lifestyle. The conflicting realities and resultant tensions came to a head last season when labor negotiations between Park City Mountain’s ski patrollers and the resort nearly led to a work stoppage before a new agreement was struck. Park City followed up by raising the minimum wage for employees across the board and offering more incentives and housing options for workers this season. But the feeling among those who perform the dangerous, difficult work of lift maintenance while enduring cold and exhausting 12-hour days, is there’s work left to do.

“The resort stepped up in some ways, and the narrative about it has shifted,” Jenkins says. “But for us as a department, we’re still struggling with unresolved issues. It’s great that the minimum wage is higher, but now wage compression is a factor. We weren’t compensated accordingly and in some cases are making the same amount as a lift ops foreman. Lift maintenance is a dangerous job that takes a lot of knowledge, skill and experience to perform competently, and it’s disheartening to feel we’ve been left behind.”

The lift maintenance mechanics and electricians have joined CWA Local 7781, the United Professional Ski Patrols of America. As of today, the unionization hasn’t affected wages or employment agreements, with union elections and negotiations still to come. New union members are hopeful the collective bargaining power will help address their specific needs. “We’re trying to bring this back to a local level. What works for Vail and Breckenridge and Crested Butte may not work here. We’re a different resort in a different community, and we want to address our specific needs. For example, almost all of us are commuting from significant distances,” Jenkins says.

Park City Mountain was understandably less than thrilled about the unionization effort, especially after making a significant investment to address issues that plagued staffing and operations last season. “While we are disappointed with the result, we are grateful to those who took time to vote,” Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Deirdra Walsh said in a statement provided by the resort. “We sincerely believe that direct communication works best to build strong relationships, ensure a safe working environment and allow every employee’s voice to be heard through direct and open dialogue. We have demonstrated this by listening and taking action this year—increasing wages and investing in affordable housing, mental health, leadership development and other perks and benefits. These are actions we took because of our commitment to our team members.”

Mountain communities are changing, and the employment landscape is evolving in response. As the idyllic vision of living in the mountains and working in the ski industry becomes increasingly elusive, something will have to give. According to Jenkins, people in town have taken notice. “The community support has been overwhelming, and we don’t take that for granted,” she says. More than likely, this won’t be the last domino to fall.  

Feb 23
Love0
WT0C0391-e1677178852674

Upstream Fare: The New Fish Market Park City

By Eat & Drink

John Courtney has lived many lives when it comes to cuisine. He’s a revered chef, having overseen numerous cuisine concepts simultaneously at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas and worked alongside legendary figures like Rick Moonen and Mario Batali. His latest venture, The Fish Market Park City, is bringing a new level of seafood quality to Park City, providing both unique, fresh ingredients for home chefs and a dine-in restaurant in Kimball Junction. It mirrors his other local business, Park City Chop Shop, which is located just across the street. If you’re looking for fresh, fine food in Park City, you’ve found your spot.

Fish Market Park City
Photo by Adam Finkle

“The shrimp is poached in white wine with star anise and cloves to give flavor back to the shrimp. The cocktail sauce is house made with simple ingredients, but we burn off some gin so the juniper flavor matches the character of the poaching liquid. It’s just a shrimp cocktail, you know? But it’s not.” Talking with John Courtney is frequently like this, animated and tinged with education. He combines a philosophical simplicity about cuisine with a technical complexity earned through years of experience. Frankly, it makes me hungry to listen. 

Courtney opened The Fish Market Park City in the summer 2022, a combination fresh seafood market and dine-in restaurant. It’s not his first foray into the Park City food scene. He and his wife, Paige, started a business with a similar business model, Chop Shop Park City, directly across the street. Both businesses shared an impetus: to provide high quality ingredients to the community that weren’t readily available.

 “We’re the unique fish monger. We know exactly where our proteins came out of the ocean, who took them out and who shipped them directly to us,” Courtney explains. “It’s a different process that costs a little more, but part of what we do is provide education to our customers about why we do things differently.”

It’s hardly a secret that all this wonderful fish doesn’t come out of the Great Salt Lake. Despite the distance from the coast, The Fish Market Park City serves the freshest fish you can find. “We bring Park City as close to the beach as possible. We get fresh fish delivered every single day, not just two days a week like is common in a lot of places. We import some fish directly from the Toyosu Market in Japan. The fish goes straight from the deck to a cargo box, to a plane to SLC and we pick it up at the airport. It’s straight from the water to you,” Courtney says.

Fish Market Park City
Photo by Adam Finkle

The comprehensive import process also allows Courtney to provide truly unique offerings. From high grade belly portions of bluefin tuna, to ocean trout to calamansi (a type of citrus), the fridges and shelves in The Fish Market house all sorts of things you won’t find anywhere else.

If any of those sound intimidating to the home chef, don’t worry. Courtney is happy to provide some direction to help you get the most out of your meal. Of course, there are also in-house dining offerings, including the aforementioned shrimp cocktail, a raw bar, a lobster grilled cheese, a churashi bowl and more. You would be hard pressed to find better fish in the Mountain West, or anywhere else for that matter.

IF YOU GO: 1154 Center Dr., Park City, 435-776-6984.

Discover another new restaurant in Salt Lake serving up fresh seafood with a twist.

Jan 27
Love0
DJI_0358

The Uncertain Future of New Maylower Mountain Resort

By Adventures, Outdoors

Even in four-wheel drive, the worn all-season tires on my truck struggled for traction. A wet, heavy snowstorm, the first of the season, had plagued the drive for 230 miles since heading up Douglas Pass along Colorado State Highway 139. Finally, approaching Park City on US-40, the sun shone through a fleeting break in the clouds. Out the driver’s side window, was the future site of Mayflower Mountain Resort, and also the first place bare ground without a fresh blanket of snow was visible in roughly four hours.

The cruel bit of ironic coincidence was difficult to ignore. We’d awoken in a tent to a desert snowstorm and had been treated to Ullr’s early gifts right up to the moment we were passing a place that requires snow for its very existence. The dearth of snow, a trivial occurrence with a sample size of one, nevertheless echoed the degree of public skepticism about the resort’s location and future viability. The past couple of seasons, at least, lackluster snowfall had left the east-facing, lower-elevation terrain across from the Jordanelle Reservoir with nary a trace of snow cover, sowing a hint of doubt.

Turns out ski resorts don’t open or close based on ill-informed opinions, so Mayflower is slated to spin its lifts starting in 2024/25, and stakeholders feel they’re on track despite alarming recent snow trends and the lack of a confirmed operator. “We were very successful this past construction season, with mostly dry conditions to work on a variety of projects, underground infrastructure, and also obvious vertical projects and numerous ski runs,” says Brooke Hontz, Vice President of Development at Extell Development Company, which is developing Mayflower Mountain Resort. “We’re in continued conversations with Alterra, Deer Valley’s parent company, to be the resort’s operator, and we look forward to finalizing those conversations in a positive way.”

If no deal is struck with Alterra, Mayflower Mountain Resort will be able to operate independently with 4,300 skiable acres of terrain, 3,200 feet of vertical drop and ultimately 15 ski lifts.

Mayflower Mountain Resort
Photo courtesy Extell Development Company

There’s money to be made from ski resorts, so the inertia of capitalism will likely sort out the operator status. The more pressing and less solvable issue is whether there’s going to be adequate snow, especially at the base elevation of 6,575 feet.

“Certainly, snowfall is a concern, as it should be for everyone in the ski industry. But we can’t have a kneejerk reaction to what we hope are outlier years the past couple of seasons,” Hontz says. “We have 900-acre feet of water currently set aside for a state-of-the-art, automated snowmaking system. We’re looking at having an exceptional operator who can forecast and help us make snow that’s wonderful quality, just as Deer Valley has been able to do during the past couple of challenging winters.”

Snowmaking serving as the backbone of future ski resort viability isn’t unique to Mayflower, but without certain weather conditions, even that becomes challenging. “The Wasatch Back as a whole experiences some shadowing, which results in less precipitation, and the orographic effects tend to be less favorable as you move south from Deer Valley,” says Mike Wessler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City. Mayflower indeed sits south of Deer Valley, but Wessler is quick to point out how such general rules are difficult to apply.

“Mountain meteorology is a fickle beast, and unique terrain orientation can have a significant effect on snow totals. We can only get reliable data from stations with long-term established data sets, and along the Wasatch Back that’s from Thaynes Canyon, downtown Park City and the Snake Creek Hydroelectric Power Plant,” he says. “Without that, historical snow conditions are difficult to pinpoint and future conditions are difficult to forecast.”

We may not be able to glean a lot about how much natural snowfall will grace Mayflower Mountain Resort, but we can gain some insight into snowmaking potential. “The Wasatch Back is particularly cold. It features these narrow valleys with poor drainage that traps air into cold pools. The minimum temperatures typically recorded at Snake Creek at 6,010 feet are comparable to what you see in Thaynes Canyon at 9,230 feet,” Wessler explains.

Those cold temperatures are what Mayflower Mountain Resort is banking on to make snow. Wessler noted across the west we’re seeing rising snow lines during storms while pointing out broad regional trends can’t be applied to something so specific as snowfall in a particular location. Even amid climate uncertainty, one thing’s for certain. Mayflower development doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon

Jan 11
Love0
OR-Vendors

Outdoor Retailer Returns Searching for Reinvention

By Adventures, Outdoors

The snowfall rate at the base of Brighton’s Millicent Lift increased dramatically. Vendors scrambled to lash down branded E-Z up tents as the wind’s rising howl threatened to send expansive displays of gear skyward. Outdoor Retailer (OR) had returned to Salt Lake City after a five-year stint outside of the beehive state, kicking off with the show’s on-snow portion, The Summit, during a classic Utah prefrontal gale. But the harsh conditions didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of those participating in the experiential activities.

Outdoor Retailer left Utah in the wake of ongoing efforts by state officials to snatch up public lands, frequently for the benefit of extractive industries. In returning, OR pointed to Salt Lake Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s commitment to renewable energy and public land conservation, but a number of heavy hitters in the industry—including Patagonia, REI and The North Face—weren’t on board with the return to Utah, and thus abstained from participating. Their absence was profoundly felt in the vendor village, which while enthusiastically populated, featured a paltry smattering of brands compared to what used to be a gargantuan maze of company tents.

Here, at the foot of the Brighton’s slopes you could sense the OR Show’s yearning for reinvention even as it returns to familiar territory. Instead of buyers and media lining up to test the latest and greatest from competing brands, attendees signed up for myriad on-snow clinics for everything from introductory ski touring and split boarding instruction, to ski mountaineering skills, to hut trip preparedness tips to emergency winter snow shelter construction. In all honesty, the commercial aspect seemed secondary at best, as the on-mountain experiences dominated attention.

Learning to kick turn courtesy of Inspired Summit Adventures.

Local guide service Inspired Summit Adventures had more than 30 guides on hand to lead activities. I tagged along while mountain guide Joey Manship taught a group of six the intricacies of kick turns while ascending a steep snowy slope. Another guide, Joel O’Rourke taught an attendee how to self-arrest while descending. Staff from the Utah Avalanche Center demoed how to dig snow pits and famed forecaster Craig Gordon provided a live avalanche forecast for all in attendance. It was a phantasmagoria of backcountry skiing and snowboarding activities with few hints of consumerism outside of the occasional demoed ski gear and the Breeo smokeless campfire setup, which proved very popular owing to the copious bratwurst their staff were cooking up for anyone with an appetite.

The Breeo Tent proved very popular among hungry attendees.

That OR is redefining its identity makes sense. Between Covid disruptions, the proliferation of internet sales and new distribution models, the outdoor industry is undergoing rapid change. Gone are the days of all the buyers getting together in a single location to place an order for the upcoming year with all the manufacturers. To stay relevant the show must evolve. “It’s nice to see OR back in Salt Lake City, but the show has changed so much during Covid, I’m curious to see what it becomes,” says Chad Brackelsberg, executive director of the Utah Avalanche Center.

Utah Avalanche Center staff giving the lowdown on conditions.

How did others in attendance feel about the show’s return to Salt Lake City? Most just seemed happy it was no longer in Denver, which as anyone who’s visited knows is at times a seemingly unfathomable distance from the mountains. “It’s coming home to Salt Lake City, which is the only real city in the middle of the mountains,” O’Rourke says. Others were hopeful the show could prove beneficial in the long run.  “Although things maybe haven’t changed as much in Utah, the show is an important part of the community, and there’s lots of outdoors folks who could help bring some positive change to the industry and the state,” Manship says.

OR is back in the same old location, but with a new look and feel. Regardless of the machinations that brought the show back or the conflicted feelings some rightfully hold about its return, nobody on snow seemed too preoccupied by much other than playing outside. I suppose no matter what else is going on, it usually feels good to be back home.

Note: The Author has previously worked as a guide for Inspired Summit Adventures and is an educator for the Utah Avalanche Center.  

Jan 09
Love0
Sundance-PC-main-street

Dawn Rises Over a New Sundance Film Festival

By Sundance

It’s actually happening this time. Seriously. The Sundance Film Festival is returning for 2023 as an in-person event after two years of entirely virtual screenings. From January 19-29, the annual spectacle will retake its historic place in Park City, inundating the community with a reflected, star-studded glow that has been notably absent since January 2020. Even with audiences returning to theaters this year, Sundance is hybridizing the festival and making programming available virtually to ticket holders. It’s a new world for event logistics and expectations, and the cultural winds are shifting as swiftly as ever over the independent entertainment landscape. The Sundance Film Festival needs to find its place in the new era.

The resurgent pandemic scuttled plans for Sundance’s return the past couple of years, but the lessons learned may have forever altered the way we fest. Sundance reported during the pandemic three times as many people viewed films online during the 2021 virtual edition—600,000 audience views—as saw them during the 2020 physical edition. The figure represents a welcome democratization of the independent film viewing experience, as in recent years the festival had become ever-more exclusive. The fame-adjacent, stargazing, an influencer-obsessed culture that has sullied so many cultural pillars—we see you Coachella and Burning Man—lent the purportedly inclusive values of independent film a distinctly insular feel. Needless to say, enjoying the art on its own terms away from the spectacle had its merits.

So, the festival can be experienced in whatever context one prefers, amid the live spectacle or from home, refocusing an emphasis on the programming. Here too, Sundance must chart a new direction as to what stories they are trying to tell and which voices they want to amplify. Part of that direction includes the pausing of this year’s New Frontier programming, which has typically served as an incubator for more experimental forms of art and has recently incorporated virtual reality projects. Further at stake is Sundance’s reputation as a tastemaker, following a debacle in 2022 surrounding the film, Jihadi Rehab.

 The documentary made by a white woman, Meg Smaker, about four Muslim men—accused terrorists and former Guantanamo detainees who were never charged—incarcerated in a Saudi Arabian rehabilitation facility, was the source of intense debate regarding representation, consent and who has a license to tell which stories. After intense criticism—some very valid, some not in good faith—Sundance issued an apology that was viewed by some as too late and by others as reactionary. South by Southwest subsequently rescinded its own invitation to the film, showing just how much influence Sundance wields in the zeitgeist.

2023 is a year of reinvention for Sundance. The crowds are back and with renewed scrutiny of what the festival aims to be. How this year’s festival plays out will set the tone for how the institution will impact the culture surrounding independent film for years to come.  

How to Attend the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

In-person and online ticket packages can be purchased on the Sundance website. Numerous In-person festival packages are available with prices ranging from $200-$750, and single film tickets will be on sale starting January 12 for $25 each. Online festival tickets, $20 per film or $300 for the Festival Package are also available. festival.sundance.org ­­

Dec 09
Love0
parking-reservation

Park City Mountain Introduces Paid Parking

By Adventures, Outdoors

It’s pay day at Payday Express. Park City Mountain is introducing paid parking at the Park City base area for the 2022-2023 ski season, and I’m certain everyone is going to be extremely chill about it. I’m kidding, of course, as people will most assuredly lose their minds. Hear me out though, because (ducks head) I actually think it’s a good idea. I’m not normally one to defend corporate ski profiteering—and this is most certainly an instance just such a thing—but when a change like this has positive unintended consequences for the community then consider me a bloodthirsty capitalist!

First, the details. Every day this season from December 12 to April 2, it will cost $25 to park in the lots at the Park City base area. Reservations are required with full prepayment. If you carpool with four or more skiers, it’s free to park, but you’ll still need a reservation. If you duck out of work early and show up after 1:00 p.m. it’s free to park. You can hold up to 10 parking reservations per account at any time, meaning if you live with multiple passholders you can get wildly creative and hoover up most of the days you’ll end up going to the hill.

Park City is predicting an 11% decrease in parking demand at the base area. It’s certainly going to keep me from parking there. After all, $25 is a lot to pay to park, but there’s good news: you can avoid paying the fees while helping sort out lingering community issues at the same time. You may have heard ski traffic is kind of a nuisance around here. In fact, it pretty much drives all conversation relating to the community. Carpooling with four people takes those pesky single-occupancy vehicles off the road, reducing congestion, lessening your carbon footprint and allowing you to park for free. That’s seems like a good deal all around.

 Are you one of those no friends on a powder day people? If so, you might be out of luck on the carpool front—and you should probably adjust your attitude because skiing with friends is more fun and if nobody saw you do what you’re bragging about they’ll never believe you anyway—but there are ample public transport options available. Park at the Jeremy Ranch or Ecker Hill park and ride and hop on the High Valley Transit Green Line to skip the frustrating traffic snafus in Kimball Junction, and mindlessly scroll Instagram on a free ride right to the base of Park City Mountain.

The only way we fix ski traffic is if we stop driving so many cars to the hill. Don’t give the resort an extra $25. Take the free bus. It’s free. And it even works if you’re going to the Canyons Base Area or Deer Valley, where parking is still free. Time to be part of the solution. It’s free.

Daily Lift Ticket Caps Are Coming

Paid parking isn’t the only way Park City Mountain is aiming to curb crowds. The resort will be limiting daily lift ticket sales. It’s another calculated move intended to increase advance pass purchases, but if it has the added effect of helping reduce lift lines, locals will likely be for it.

Nov 07
Love0
Utah-Symphony_Sympho-Ski_Watt_Jeremiah_2021_JWatt_VisitUT3350_Large-scaled

Brian Head Opens Early Signaling Fortuitous Start to Utah Ski Season

By Adventures, Outdoors

Brian Head has opened early this season for skiing and snowboarding. The resort began spinning lifts on Friday, November 4, the earliest the mountain in Southwestern Utah has ever done so. They’re the first resort in the state to open for the 2022/23 winter season, which has gotten off to a magnificent start with consistent early season snowfall in late October and early November and significantly more in the forecast.

The race to open is an annual tradition in Utah, typically won when a resort comes out with snow guns blazing in the service of creating a viable white ribbon of death through which to funnel frothing early season skiers and snowboarders. This fall, resorts have not only taken advantage of cool temperatures to make snow but have also benefitted from some strong early season storms to help build that crucial early season base. Brian Head, which sits at a lower latitude than its counterparts and isn’t the beneficiary of the mythical Cottonwood Canyon powder factory, isn’t typically first out of the gate. But they’ve taken advantage of fortuitous weather patterns to begin the winter.

Other resorts throughout Utah are expected to open in the coming days. Solitude plans to open Friday, November 11, with Park City Mountain and Alta following suit a week later on November 18. Snowbasin will open November 25 and Snowbird opens on November 30, with several more like Deer Valley, Nordic Valley, Sundance and Eagle Point opting for more conservative start dates in December. Notably, some resorts like Woodward Park City, Brighton, and Powder Mountain are yet to announce opening dates, but now that Brian Head has cracked the seal it likely won’t be long until others fire up the chairs.

In a continuation of the early-season trend, a major storm is expected this week with 2.25-3.25 inches of water bringing an expected total of two-to-three feet of snow in the Cottonwood Canyons. That should help motivate and jump start any resorts that have been lagging behind in their preparations for the upcoming season. Many people have been out hiking in the backcountry for early season turns, and those who continue to do so should be aware that avalanche conditions will change rapidly as new snow falls. The Utah Avalanche Center has begun posting daily forecasts for the Salt Lake region already and will do so for other regions throughout the state in the coming weeks. Consult the daily forecast and be prepared whenever skiing in the backcountry, as early seasons can be particularly dangerous.

The 2022/23 ski season is officially underway! Check back for more updates as we follow what will hopefully be an epic return to powder-filled bliss after a couple lackluster seasons. Read more outdoor coverage here.

Nov 03
Love0
bbq1

Lush’s BBQ is Park City’s Pit Master

By Eat & Drink

Free of context, Tennessee barbecue on the Wasatch Back sounds like a surefire tourist trap in the making, but the moment you start talking to Richie Lush, any worry about authenticity will quickly dissipate. Even after nearly a decade living in Utah, he speaks with a drawl straight from Lincoln County, Tennessee where he and his barbecue both hail from. Those roots are on full display at his recently opened restaurant in Silver Creek, Lush’s BBQ.

Photo by Adam Finkle

“I’ve had interior decorators come in and ask me who put all this stuff up. I just say, ‘Me. This is my life and what I do.’ I got pictures of my kids and fishing trips and hunting. I got elk and mule deer on the walls. Some people don’t like hunting, well, sorry for your luck,” Lush says.

Lush has that familiar charisma common in confident chefs, but when I asked him what makes his Tennessee barbecue stand out, he was understated, at least at first. “I don’t sauce mine down. That’s pretty much all that separates it,” he says before pausing and unfurling a far more detailed and poignant tale of his recipe’s origins than one would bargain for.  

 “I guess I get that question a lot, and I don’t know how to answer it. See, I learned from a couple old dudes who just believed in me. Charlie Woodley, who was the first black man to open a barbecue restaurant in Fayetteville, walked up to me one day and said, ‘Your dad always helped me out, and you know what? I think this recipe might help you out.’ Charlie put nothing on the pulled pork, he’d cook whole shoulders and sauce it afterwards with straight vinegar, no tomatoes. But I also learned from this other guy, Cheese, and he had a little tomato in his. So, I kind of mixed it up to somewhere in between a Carolina and Memphis style, like a mix of what I learned from these guys who are now passed. I call it the ‘in between.’”  

There are thousands of takes on barbecue and exponentially more opinions on what constitutes perfection. I’m hardly a critic and certainly no pitmaster, but take it from me, the “in between” is awfully good. Think sharp vinegar with a hint of citrus and just a touch of sweetness. When the meat’s just coming off the smoker, you’d be hard pressed to find better ribs, brisket or pulled pork anywhere. Not in Kansas City. Not in Carolina. Not even Texas.

 7182 Silver Creek Rd., Park City, 435-333-2831,

Photo by Adam Finkle

Lush’s has a Food Truck, Too

Lush’s BBQ is only open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (7 p.m. on Sundays). Such is the price of meticulously smoked meats. But Lush also runs a food truck that periodically sells in Kamas as people come and go from the Uintas, and it is available for catering events. Get in touch through Lush’s BBQ’s website for more details on food truck availability and locations.