By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY
Downtown Manteca is the place to be
WINE STROLL
Promoting the Downtown Business Alliance’s Beer Wine & Spooky Spirits Stroll on Friday, Oct. 25, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. are, from left, Jenny Harris, Joanne Beattie, Ryan Harris, and Eddie Torres,

This upcoming week the place to be in Manteca to eat, drink and be merry is in downtown.

Monday (Oct. 21) is the Food Truck Takeover event from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. that officially launches the start of a daily food truck court at Library Park.

Friday (Oct. 25) is the second annual Downtown Business Association’s Beer, Wine, & Spooky Spirits Stroll from 6 to 9:30 p.m.

Saturday (Oct. 26) is the Downtown Manteca Safe Halloween from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

The events are all designed to not just bring people to downtown but to work toward the goal of establishing the heart of the city as the cultural and social core of Manteca.

Beer Wine &

Spooky Spirits Stroll

The Downtown Business Alliance’s second annual Beer, Wine, & Spooky Spirits Stroll tickets are $35 apiece.

The ticket covers tastings and appetizers. Costumes are strongly encouraged. There will be prizes for first ($100), second ($50), and third ($25), Designated driver tickets are available for purchase for $10. The designated driver ticketholders can get complimentary water and soda as well as enjoy appetizers at all locations.

Tickets are available for purchase on Eventbrite or at the Law Office of Eddie C. Torres, J&J Printing, Studio 150, Valley Oak Community Bank, Manteca Chamber of Commerce, Leonard’s Photography, Vintage Barber Shop, and Rusty Salon. If you say “I love downtown Manteca” when buying a ticket at one of the physical locations you will receive a $5 discount.

Tickets will also be on sale during Monday’s food truck court kickoff event.

Check in locations for the event taking place on Friday, Oct. 26, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. are at Yosemite Avenue and Main Street by Manteca Bedquarters as well as the law office of Eddie C. Torres on Maple Avenue across from the post office.

Participants will visit downtown businesses while enjoying beer, wine and appetizers from various local breweries and wineries. The shops will have special specials specifically for the evening. 

There will also be a pedal cab — a beer bike, if you well — that will take attendees to participating locations throughout downtown.


Safe Halloween

on Saturday, Oct. 26

Five groups are combining to stage the long running fall tradition — Downtown Manteca Safe Halloween — on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 10:30 a.m. until noon.

Parents are invited to bring their small children to go trick or treating at participating downtown businesses. Participating merchants will have an orange jack o’lantern flyer in their windows,

The free event is sponsored by Manteca Downtown Businesses, Sierra High Interact Club, Manteca Parks & Recreation Department, Manteca Fire Department, and Manteca Police Department.


Kickoff event Monday

for daily downtown

food truck court

The Food Truck Takeover event on Monday, Oct. 21, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Library Park will feature the Mike Torres Jr. Band from 6 to 8 p.m., arts and crafts for kids, family games and multiple food trucks.

The event Monday is a kickoff for what is designed to kick off the downtown food truck court on a daily basis to offer dining from food trucks in Manteca.

People are encouraged to bring their own chairs to sit beneath the stately sycamore trees or a blanket to spread out on the grass while listening to the music and enjoying the evening. 

Modeled after other food truck courts including the one in downtown Modesto near the train station, the Manteca Food Truck Court will set a new standard with shade trees, picnic tables, two playground areas, and restrooms. Food trucks will line up on Poplar Avenue to the west of the Manteca Library along the grassy promenade that passes four of the six murals that grace Library Park.

The beer garden being arranged through the efforts of the Manteca Chamber of Commerce will be in the main part of Library Park along with the band.

Unlike the once-a-month on Sundays Food Truck Mania that the recreation department staged for five months at Woodward Park in 2016, the Library Park Food Truck Court is designed to be a daily occurrence.

The initial food truck event back in 2016 lured in excess of 5,000 people. Subsequent mania events 

The Manteca City Council unanimously in August asked staff to launch the food truck concept at Library Park on a trial basis of six months or so.

And if it is successful, Councilman Gary Singh can see it being not only a permanent feature at Library Park in the central part of the city but also as a template for food courts in Manteca’s four quadrants.

The food truck court will operate within the hours that Library Park is open to the public

Library Park has permanent restrooms — something the food truck court in downtown Modesto doesn’t have — as well as benches and tables with plenty of shades already in place. If the food truck court turns out to be successful the city could possibly invest in canopies and more seating likely along the grassy promenade. It is not only in the least used area of the park but it is immediately adjacent to Poplar Avenue that dead ends at the entrance to the library parking lot and has room for six to eight food trucks to park along the sidewalk.


To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com