In seeking funds to help support themselves, the Triton Marching Alliance has happened on a way to bring the mobile gourmet food truck trend to San Clemente.
The band is bringing in a number of food trucks, usually around six, on a weekly basis on Monday nights at San Clemente High School. The event, SC Food Truck Mondays, is serving as a fundraiser for the organization and is currently scheduled to run throughout the school year, except holidays, parent boosters MariAnne Ridsdale and Gwen Hegenwald said.
The band is raising funds to help defray the costs of travel to and from games and competitions, as well as for coaches, music and uniform costs. The recent ruling by the state outlawing fees for student participation in activities like band has also meant less funding, Ridsdale said, since many families have said they can’t afford to provide a donation to the program.
Director Tony Soto, who’d been contacted by a food truck company that had heard of the plight of the band from another director, initially pitched the idea for the food trucks. In a flash, the band and booster parents agreed to the fundraiser, which began two weeks ago. In addition to food, the trucks, which serve everything from Mexican-Korean fusion food to Italian, will also have entertainment, including open mic nights for bands, as a way to help promote the effort.
Ridsdale, who’d been familiar with some trucks in Irvine and Anaheim, noted that they weren’t something that usually could be found as far south as San Clemente, but that between the efforts the truck owners take to promote themselves on social media, as well as the school’s location on Avenida Pico, they might become a pretty familiar and welcome sight for hungry San Clementeans.
