Downtown growth 

Norman’s first food truck park is also on the site of the first new building construction in the city’s downtown area in over three decades and removed a potentially dangerous eyesore.

TOLY Park is located at 227 W. Main St. and stands for The Old Lumber Yard, which stood unattended on the block for years.

“This was a total eyesore and a hazardous spot,” said TOLY Park general manager Sammie Richardson. “There was big lumber piles on both of these walls. We barely hit them with a bulldozer and they came crashing down.”

The park opened in mid-April in time for Norman Music Fest and has become a meting place for the monthly Norman Art Walk. It is open 4-10 p.m. Fridays, 5-10 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays for lunch.

The project started a few years ago as Norman dentist Gabriel Bird began looking for a site to build a new office.

“It’s kind of a Forrest Gump story,” Bird said. “The lot is a lot larger than the building I am going to be putting on it. Rather than just make a giant parking lot and add another concrete jungle feature, the idea to put in a [food truck] park came up, and really, it just made perfect sense.”

Bird is an active member of Norman Arts Council, the city chamber and Norman Downtowners Association. Construction for the food truck park began in January.

“I love Norman and I love downtown and being a part of the rejuvenation of what’s going on down there and to finally get rid of the eyesore that we’ve dealt with for so long,” Bird said.

Richardson, a veteran of the restaurant industry, manages the day-to-day schedule of booking food trucks and overseeing the park, which is still undergoing construction. On-site bathrooms and a full bar with both draft beer and spirits is slated to open by the end of the summer. The park currently sells domestic beer by the bottle.

Last week, the park hosted a movie night by showing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and playing the movie’s soundtrack for a mixture of University of Oklahoma students and families with children and dogs in tow.

“There are a lot of other places that have the same concept, but it’s not as much of a family-friendly environment,” Richardson said. “[Other food truck parks can be] more of a go-and-get-drunk type of place. We’re shying away from that.”

Richardson is in the process of getting the park’s lunch service off the ground, which she said picked up after a few days once the nearby courthouse got word of the service. She only likes to book the park no more than a month in advance in order keep variety.

“I’m constantly finding new trucks. I had someone come up from Davis last week,” Richardson said. “I’m trying to stay loyal to the folks that helped us get lunch going.”

A few local restaurants like Gaberino’s Homestyle Italian and Apple Tree Chocolate added a food truck in order to help service the park. Mission In-Pasta-Bowl, Fran’s Food Truck, Phil Me Up Cheesesteaks and Sparxx Sliders are among other food trucks with multiple appearances at the park.

“I worked years ago at a warehouse and we’d go out to what we called the Roach Coach,” Richardson said.  “You’d get a $3 tuna sandwich that was always a bad call. It was the only thing that showed up. Now you can get a steak, baked potato, salad and a glass of wine off of a food truck now while sitting with your family outdoors.”

Richardson doesn’t charge trucks to use its space for lunch and is more than willing to work with a truck if it has a slow night, saying that she won’t ask for a percentage cut if its sales are low.

“I haven’t had a bad food truck yet,” Bird said. “Mission In-Pasta-Bowl has some good low-calorie and vegan options, which is nice. The food truck park isn’t what I make my living off of, so I don’t need it to be a big moneymaker. I just need it to be a special place.”

The addition of TOLY Park has helped expand Norman’s Art Walk a few blocks west, according to Richardson. As people come to visit the park’s vendors, surrounding businesses have added live outdoor music and other merchants.

“[TOLY Park] is an exciting addition for our community,” said Scott Martin, CEO of the Norman Chamber of Commerce. “Dr. Bird’s medical practice is the first new construction in downtown in over 30 years. It is a wonderful repurpose of the property, and the food truck park will service that area well, particularly during outdoor activities like Art Walk, Fall Fest and Norman Music Fest.”

The park has served as meeting place for fundraisers for local charities like Transition House, Food & Shelter and Women’s Resource Center.

“The Norman community is just incredible,” Richardson said. “Norman helps each other out. We had a food drive for the food shelter, and people were walking through the gate carrying through sacks for of groceries not because they wanted a free soda but because they wanted to help. What better day is that? I get goose bumps thinking about it.”

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