By Jannah Kalai

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With food trucks, live music, craft vendors and keiki fun zones, Mililani’s fifth biannual Eat the Street drew crowds of hundreds to a rainy vendor’s paradise. On Sept. 12, the streets joining Mililani Ike Elementary School and the Recreation Center 7 lot in the Mililani Mauka residential area were filled with aromas from over 40 different local vendors. The event gives the vendors a unique experience to interact not only with one another, but the public.

“Talking story with all these people that I don’t know (is my favorite part of this event),”  stated Kelli Mukawa, a newcomer to Mililani Eat the Street with an artisan iced-tea pop-up tent, Tea on Fleek.

Eat the Street is a street food event for local businesses that occurs on the last Friday of each month and is located at the Kakaako Waterfront Park. After a tremendously large turn-out to the premiere in 2011, the tradition has been carried throughout the years by its creator, Street Grindz. The location of the original Eat the Street spread due to its overwhelming popularity island-wide, and now the event takes place in March and September in Mililani and West Oahu Locations.

The event’s family-friendly ambience and diverse entertainment for all ages is what attracts large crowds every year, as well as the continual expansion of the event. “A lot of the food trucks, they stayed the same, but they have definitely introduced a lot more food trucks, and I really like that, and they have the new kids center, and I think that is pretty cool to entertain kids,” stated a regular to the Eat the Street scene, Junior Meilani Watanabe.

The atmosphere is not only a welcome sight to visitors, but vendors as well. “When I started my business, this (was) something that I was really passionate about, so when I get to sell my product and see people’s reactions it is really gratifying,” added Mukawa. “There’s a lot of people here, good crowd, lots of families.”

Joining the vast amounts of choices for the palette, Eat the Street also featured music and entertainment from groups such as the Mililani’s Got Talent Winners, Hawaii Youth Chorus, Jesse Valor Band, and individual artists such as Ethan Colte, Alii Tasi and more performed on stage throughout the evening and early into the night.

Street Grindz continues to hold an array of events, with the next being the Honolulu Night Market “Fall Fiesta,” which will be held on Oct. 17 at the Kakaako Waterfront Park. Eat the Street will return next spring to the pavements of Mililani, where hundreds of individuals will wait, hungry for more.