Full day of food

DOVER — Coming soon to Dover will be a full-day food festival that will offer culinary items inside and out of the Dover Ice Arena.

It’s a called NH’s Ultimate Food Truck and Specialty Food Festival, and it will be held Saturday, April 27 and produced by Doverite Matt Mayberry.

“I want to create an experience for you and your friends that you can’t get at home,” Mayberry said in an interview Wednesday. “I want you to stand up there and look around and realize, ‘I have too many choices.’”

Mayberry, who also produces Dover’s Ultimate Yard Sale that’s held at the Dover Ice Arena through his company New England Events, said the festival will have 15 food trucks parked outside the arena and 85 specialty food vendors stationed inside. There will also a couple of New England Patriot cheerleaders, games and music, including singer-songwriter Sam Woolf, a top-five finalist from the 2014 season of American Idol, and the local duet No1UKnow.

The food trucks will be serving food that ranges from Native American dishes to Creole to Vietnamese, Mayberry said. “We are leaving the burgers and hot dogs to your backyard. We want to give our guests flavors and smells they haven’t experienced before and meet new small businesses who produce amazing food products.”

Mayberry said all the food vendors are from the region, which includes Prime Time Grilled Cheese, Auntie Nae's Tiki Treats, Nomad's Kitchen, Old Guy Can Cook, Empanada Dada, Chez Rafiki's Mediterranean, Boisvert's Curbside Kitchen, Smiley's Fries and Chorizo, Forking Awesome, B's Tacos, Crescent City Bistro, Somerset Grill, Clyde's Cupcakes, Kerry's Kitchen Kreations, Street Eats and Subzero Ice Cream.

Many of the food vendors inside the arena will be serving sample food items and will have products for sale. Mayberry said a distillery, winery and craft brewer would also have booths inside the arena. While the alcohol products would be available for purchase to take home, there won’t be any alcohol sold for consumption at the festival.

Mayberry anticipates 2,000 people attending the festival. There will be limited parking at the Dover Ice Arena with overflow parking at 121 Broadway with shuttle service bringing patrons back and forth.

Dogs are allowed as long as they are friendly, good with other dogs and can handle large crowds, Mayberry said. Service dogs are always permitted, he said.

Tickets are $5 per person, with children under 12 years old is free.

“Come have a culinary experience,” Mayberry said.