With music blaring along Taylor Street and various foods being eaten, there was nothing short of a fiesta on the Downtown campus Tuesday.
The Food Truck Fiesta was the first event of Undergraduate Student Government Downtown’s “Buy Local, Be Local” campaign, launched to encourage ASU students and surrounding community members to support local businesses in downtown Phoenix.
USGD’s Local Affairs Director Michael Homan and Director of Parliamentary Procedure Andres Cano have been working on the Food Truck Fiesta and “Buy Local, Be Local” initiative for about a month.
The fiesta ran from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and consisted of a disc jockey and three food trucks with various food choices such as burritos, hush puppies, fried pickles and hot dogs.
The businesses involved were members of the Phoenix Public Market’s weekly Food Truck Friday.
Because the food provided was financially feasible for the average college student, it’s vital for students to be aware of the neighboring establishments so they can contribute in the local economy, journalism freshman Sarah Parsons said.
“We need to start picking places that are local to help out Arizona’s economy,” she said.
Homan said since the Downtown campus was built to really enrich the economy, there is a need to get the students out into the economy of downtown.
“That’s the initiative that (USGD is) taking,” Homan said.
There have been long-term demands for the Downtown campus to become more involved in the local economy, Freshman Sen. Stephanie Avalos said.
“The most basic purpose that we want to see out of (the campaign) is both the community and ASU need to work with each other to thrive collectively that produce benefits economically,” Avalos said.
According to a Monday USGD press release, USGD is working on more M&G options, a coupon book and bike storage as a part of the “Buy Local, Be Local” campaign.
Reach the reporter at ctetreau@asu.edu
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