Spring Festival draws thousands to Copperas Cove City Park
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
The weather was perfect on Saturday afternoon in Copperas Cove, with approximately 5,000-7,000 locals turning out for the Spring Festival.
Formerly the Copperas Cove Food Truck Festival, the event had been moved from the summertime to this past weekend.
Overall, Copperas Cove Special Events Coordinator Ashley Wilson, who organized and ran the event with the City of Copperas Cove’s Parks & Recreation Department, was pleased with the day’s weather and the turnout.
It didn’t take long for the parking areas to fill up on Saturday afternoon, as lines of traffic grew while people waited to enter the park.
The afternoon and early evening event coincided with the 144th birthday of the City of Copperas Cove, and kicked off around 2 p.m. with Mayor Dan Yancey reading a proclamation that recounted a brief history of Copperas Cove, followed by the singing of “Happy Birthday.”
Along with Yancey, several councilmembers were present on Saturday to include Joann Courtland, Fred Chavez, Vonya Hart, and John Hale.
After the singing was over, there were 12 dozen cupcakes distributed, a fitting number for a city turning 144.
Food trucks lined up on two of the ballfield parking lots, where diners could choose from an assortment of cuisines, such as Sticky Fingas BBQ, Big Dog BBQ, Caribbean Flava Ice, Cousins Maine Lobster, La Palapa, Pizza Pie-ros, Korean Kravings, Toka Island Grill, Taqueria Ponce, Papa Bear Kettle, and more.
This year, instead of a food truck competition scored by a panel of judges, there was one contest: The People’s Choice award.
The top food truck award went to Toka Island Grill. The food truck had been on a hiatus for a while, but its owners decided to come back out for this event.
The Kids Zone kept little ones occupied with the TapTap Art Bus, as well as bounce houses. For a fee, kids could also go on a pony ride.
Expanding from being the Copperas Cove Food Truck Festival, Spring Festival also featured market vendors, to include The Loot Box, Things and Such, Renewal by Anderson, Fun Flashers, Scentsy, Sublime Creations, Alex B Creations, Expo Home, Sam’s Club, Trisha’s Tumblers, On Target Outdoors, Everlasting Grace Designs, Rocky Gutter Homestead, Smile Doctor Ortho, JenX, Yums, Crafty Sisters, From My Creations, NRG Energy, Shorteez, John D Bowen/Precision Value Homes, Brahman Mama Boutique, Realty Executives Killeen, Kimberlalei Co., Trevizo Leather Co., Raising Canes, Copperas Cove Colts, and United Portable Buildings.
Spring Fest 2023 was sponsored by United Portable Buildings, Ashley Furniture, John D Bowen/Precision Value Homes, Copperas Cove Leader-Press, VFW Post 8577, and Elements of Architecture.
The Spring Festival will return again in 2024, and this time with another date change, to April.
The festival will take place April 6-8, 2024, starting on Saturday and culminating on the date of the total solar eclipse, a little more than one year from now. Copperas Cove will be one of a number of Texas cities in the path of totality for the event, and tens of thousands of visitors will be welcomed to the city as they experience the event of a lifetime.