MITCHELL— Food trucks can park along the public right-of-way, just like anyone.
The Mitchell Park and Recreation Board, during its meeting on Thursday, Nov. 13, modified its mobile vending rules to state that “vendors cannot set up in the park within 200 yards of” park facility entrances and concession stands. The rule update limits the vending restrictions to within the park rather than distance from park facilities.
The previous policy implied that the Park board could control vendors within the right-of-way or on private property, which is not the case, according to Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Nelson. The Park board cannot dictate rules outside of the park, Nelson noted.
Under the new rules, the public right-of-way that runs through Cadwell Park Sports Complex is now available for mobile food trucks to set up, namely on West 13th Avenue. The rule would apply for street-side vending at the Mitchell Activities Center as well.
The requests for changes to the mobile food vendor rules came from Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson.
Mitchell Recreation Superintendent Thomas Gulledge has fielded ideas from the Dakota Riptide Swim Club to make a mobile vendor possible during swim meets, which the Park board denied in October. There’s always a solution, he said.
“So we can make it work for everybody, and we’re still supporting local businesses,” Gulledge said.
Various Mitchell-based sports associations rent city-owned park facilities.
Nelson noted his concerns for a mobile food truck set up outside the limits of park facilities. If sporting event patrons spend money on food outside while a renting association has vendors inside, the money isn’t going toward the association’s rent, according to Nelson. In the case of the Mitchell Recreation Center, rent fees go toward the city’s bond payments.
“If they want them there and they can still afford to pay, it shouldn’t be a concern for us,” Nelson said.
The Mitchell Recreation Center parking lot is still off-limits to mobile food trucks over safety concerns for kids walking in the parking lot from Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary and the Mitchell Recreation Center, according to Gulledge.
An unwritten policy within the Parks Department allows for secondary vendors at park facilities, when and if the primary vendor allows it. The Mitchell Skating and Hockey Association and Mitchell Soccer Association have both allowed mobile vendors to set up further away from the primary vendor, which is the associations themselves. The Parks and Recreation director position has the final say on where a mobile vendor sets up, according to Nelson.
At Hanson’s request, the Park board also considered updating the mobile food vendor rules to allow the renter of a park facility where vending is done to choose a primary or additional vendor, but found that this could potentially limit city-run concessions and did not approve this change. The Cadwell Park softball complex concessions is run by the city.
Park board president Luke Norden noted an organization renting a park facility is not granted the authority to select food vendors for events when the city provides concessions.
Norden suggested the associations that rent facilities could have volunteers work the city’s concession stands. This would mean the city wouldn’t need employees to run the concession stands, which would take away the cost of paying employees, according to Norden.
Under Norden’s suggestion, the associations would receive a cut of the night’s concessions profit instead of setting up an additional food truck or concession stand. This is done at the Denny Sandford Premier Center, Norden noted.
Mitchell Baseball Association contracts out for concessions during the season, but allows the Exchange Club to run concessions during the South Dakota State Amateur Baseball Tournament, according to Norden.
Park board vice president Dennis Thompson believes guests at Mitchell sporting events need to be hosted well with available hotel rooms and food vendors.
“We want people to have a good stay here,” Thompson said.
Marshall Mitchell is a reporter with the Mitchell Republic covering local news and politics. He has over 15 years of experience working with leaders, authors, non-profits, and small businesses in publishing, marketing, and content creation. He moved to Mitchell in December 2024, and can’t wait to hear from you. Reach out to him at mmitchell@mitchellrepublic.com.
Dining and Cooking