The new food truck court at the east end of Main Street in Carbondale is getting closer to reality. The facility — officially named Townline Trucks — has been under construction since late winter. The name comes from the property’s location on Carbondale’s eastern border.
The project is the brainchild of Richard (Rich) and Kathryn Camp and their partner, Terrance McGuire. The Sopris Sun recently spoke with McGuire and Rich Camp at the construction site.
The two men and their families have been good friends since each moved to the Roaring Fork Valley more than 30 years ago. Each family has a strong connection to the hospitality industry.
McGuire was, literally, born into it — working from a young age at Butch McGuire’s, the family’s legendary bar and restaurant on Chicago’s Near North Side. Not long after moving to the Valley, he established Johnny McGuire’s deli in Aspen, which he owned for 25 years. By 2015, however, “It was time to close,” he said, after the building was sold. But he soon set up a food trailer that he hauled to various music and other festivals and operated until the 2020 pandemic.
Camp, a landscape architect in Carbondale, doesn’t have that kind of restaurant experience. However, his wife, Kathryn, worked in Aspen in pastries at The Little Nell and as head chef of Explore Bistro before moving on to other pursuits.
McGuire said, “We looked at a bunch of properties” around Carbondale, including the vacant lot at 2nd and Main just north of KDNK. “Rich was able to come up with a different scenario” for three of those properties, mostly new townhomes. But, as Camp noted, “We would have to build it from scratch, and then we wouldn’t own the land. All of them would have been way too expensive to really make work.”
As to why a food truck court, McGuire said, “I had the idea of a food truck bar from a place in Boulder called the Rayback Collective.” He went on, “And it was kind of the same concept [as here]. Every time we went there it was a different truck and a different vibe.” He also admitted that it was “a great way to get off the road [in his trailer]. Being mobile is fun, and sometimes you get to go to fun festivals, but other than that it kind of sucks.”
After they acquired the lot at 111 Main Street, they went to work on designing the food truck court. Commenting on the project, McGuire said, “We had a bigger plan than this, and we scaled it down … took a lot of meat out of it, and got it down to something that’s a little more doable here,” including keeping and repurposing the small house on the property.
Camp pitched in, “Yeah, we had a pretty big expansion [plan]. We were going to pop the top off and do a new roof,” and punch out a wall. “I think, in hindsight, it ended up being a better project. … The scale of this is a lot closer to what you think of, like, small-town character of Carbondale. And it’s a more intimate space. We had to cram everything in here — two bathrooms, a commissary [essentially, a roomful of sinks and counters], dining room. If you have a dozen people in here, it feels like a crowd.”
As for the construction pace, Camp said, “We have done a lot in the short time that we got our building permit.” However, progress has been slower than hoped, delaying when they might open. “We’re hoping for some warm days of operation,” McGuire said, adding jokingly, “At least before the snow sticks.”
The two were a little uncertain about the number of trucks they would have (though, McGuire pointed out, most actually are trailers, like his). One would be his, typically, and, he said, “Let’s just say [on] busy days, we’ll see three trucks.” Camp added, “And then we have the ability to bring in other non-food vendors [like] local craft makers.”
McGuire said that Kathryn “is excited about the food end of this thing,” though noting that she is now too busy as publisher and editor of Mountain Pearl magazine. “I think she’s going to work her way in there. I thought [what] would be cool is a pie truck; she makes great pies. I’ve never seen a pie truck.”
If anyone can figure out how to make it work, it probably will be them.