After being forced to sit on the sidelines in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic – and only being able to run one event in 2021 – the Famous Food Festival celebrates the return of its full thrice-annual schedule starting this weekend – August 26-28 – at the Tanger Outlets in Deer Park (order tickets HERE), allowing the opportunity for attendees to taste a plethora of delicious and delectable culinary wares from around the world, without having to leave the confines of Long Island.
The Famous Food Festival was created by event co-owners Dylan Ross and Eric Arshravan, two Dix Hills natives who possess a great deal of experience in putting on similar food-based extravaganzas in New York and New Jersey via their Hauppauge-based event production company.
The Famous Food Festival originally debuted in Deer Park in 2018 to great success and acclaim, and 2019 saw Ross and Arshravan achieve even more as they added two additional shows to their yearly schedule; a second one in Deer Park, and a third in Riverhead.
However, 2020 saw all three events completely canceled due to mandatory lockdown measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, but as pandemic-related woes began to slowly taper off, the Festival was able to make a small comeback and hold one Deer Park show in 2021, Ross said.
“The pandemic really affected us, but we were fortunate to be able to host an event during Labor Day weekend in 2021 – our first time back after missing all of 2020 – so this weekend, August 26-28, is our first true year back replicating our schedule in 2019,” he said. “It's just super exciting being able to offer kids and families the ability to get out, rejoice, and gather together. We really had to sacrifice a lot in order to stay afloat during the pandemic, but thankfully we're back bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
Taking over the 150,000 square-foot south parking lot at the Tanger Outlets and scheduled to be held Friday (8/26) from 1pm-8pm and Saturday and Sunday (8/27 & 8/28) from 11am to 8pm, the Famous Food Festival is a fantastic culinary experience featuring 65 vendors – split up between 26 food trucks and 40+ booths – offering a variety of unique and tempting dishes, in addition to music and entertainment options to help attendees digest all of that grandiose grub.
While the food vendors on-hand this weekend will encompass practically anything and everything you could possibly want to stuff in your mouth – many of them featuring delicious, one-of-a-kind twists – Ross noted a few of the standouts that typically draw long lines.
“One of our extremely popular vendors from last year is returning, and he serves deep fried watermelon...it's an extremely popular, homemade recipe from the Philippines,” he said. “We also have Caribbean Street Eats, which does a Mako shark sandwich that people really love. We also have the Oyster Lovers food truck, and they serve oyster sandwiches and a whole bunch of other great stuff.”
“So we have a bunch of American classics, but we also have a lot of unique items, so if you're looking to find something new that you have tried before, we definitely cover a wide range of nationalities and cuisines,” Ross continued. “And that's the entire concept of the event…tasting food from different cultures, trying things you haven't tried before, but also having the classics to fall back on as well.”
Ross noted that ticket sales have proven to be far beyond their expectations, saying that “We're on a record-breaking ticket pace right now, so it's certainly exciting to be back.”
The return to the Festival’s full annual schedule – in addition to August, the event is also slated to be held again on October 7-10 in Deer Park, and then November 4-6 in Riverhead – is a significant occurrence to Ross, who said being forced to wait out the pandemic proved to be extremely vexing due to the passion he has for giving back.
“We stayed alive this long because we really care about the community, and we really care about the vendors we support,” he said. “This event is really all about bringing families together, and given the circumstances that the world is in today, we want to be able to give kids some excitement and to bring back that ‘family’ aspect that we think was lost over the past two years. It's all about giving back to the community and supporting local businesses, and we're looking forward to seeing what we can grow into in the future.”
To find out more, please visit https://www.famousfoodfestival.com. To order tickets, please visit https://famousfoodfestival2022.eventbrite.com.