There are two things you need to bring to Food Cart Fest: your appetite and a parasol.

At least, you’ll need some kind of self-made shade if you happen to show up at the foodie extravaganza during a heat wave. No longer adjacent to the Waldorf Hotel, the worthwhile weekly event, now in its second year, takes place at a reclaimed industrial site just west of the Olympic Village.

The site is huge, flat, and surrounded by a chain-link fence. Where there isn’t gravel or cement on the ground, there are mounds of small rocks. With nary a tree in sight, shade is nonexistent, save for a few white tents with table seating—about hundreds too few on a recent blazing afternoon.

Of course, it’s a good sign that there’s been a shortage of comfortable places to sit: about 5,000 people have shown up every Sunday since late June, according to Daniel Fazio, brand director for the Arrival Agency, which is presenting Food Cart Fest in collaboration with Streetfood Vancouver and Vancity. “We’re adding more tents and seating each week,” Fazio said in a follow-up query.

That’s great news, but still, to be safe, for the love of Apollo wear a hat. Then you’ll be ready to fully enjoy this happening gathering of Vancouver’s finest purveyors of street food.

The number and names of carts taking part varies from week to week, but there are always at least 20. Among the mobile eateries we had to choose from were Yolk’s Breakfast (specializing in poached-egg sandwiches with cool add-ons like panko-tempura avocado and truffle-oil-and-lemon hash brown skewers) and Pig on the Street (the pink Westfalia celebrating all things pork in items like the Southern Piggy sandwich, which has double-smoked bacon and bourbon barbecue sauce, and in treats such as a bacon, bourbon, and caramel brownie). Then there were Mangall Kiss Mideast BBQ, which makes super-satisfying Moroccan-spiced meatballs (with a big hunk of yam and another of red potato on the side) and Soho Road Naan Kebab, which stuffs the soft bread with tandoori chicken, butter chicken, or other tantalizing options.

Lineups were a big complaint last year, and while they exist at this year’s fest, wait times aren’t unreasonable. Hands down, the longest queue on the day we visited was for Tacofino, the bright orange taco truck that got its start in Tofino and now has a brick-and-mortar location on East Hastings Street. People waited a good 15 minutes to get their hands on one of its lingcod, yam tempura, black bean, or other tacos.

Feastro the Rolling Bistro features tacos too, with this day’s varieties being smoked salmon, jerk chicken, pulled pork, and red snapper. The last three are topped with a lively and lovely tomato-and-star-anise chutney. The big seller here, though, seemed to be Feastro’s sweet-potato frites, served with a side of smokin’ hot, smoked-chipotle aioli.

Perhaps not surprisingly given the heat, the Chili Tank (which serves chilies and soups) wasn’t seeing a lot of action, but then inexplicably neither was E.L.I.’s Serious Sausage, which offers premium, all-natural bratwurst on Schrippen buns and currywurst in a dish with house-made, lip-smacking curry ketchup.

Hormone- and nitrate-free ingredients also make up the wieners at DougieDog Diner Truck, but these are not your typical ballpark franks. From his red-and-white-checkered truck, the owner, who goes by the name Dougie Luv, dishes up monsters like the Charlie Mac Dog, which is topped with bacon and macaroni and cheese, and the DougieDog, which comes with a crazy heap of pastrami, horseradish, melted Cheddar, and Grey Poupon mustard. Dougie makes his own butterscotch root beer, too.

A favourite find was Johnny’s Pops, exotic popsicles in funky flavour combinations like raspberry-basil and avocado-lime. (There was also strawberry rhubarb, blueberry mojito, and creamy strawberry lemonade.)

Other things to know about the fest: this year, there’s a new admission fee of $2 for adults and a maximum of $5 for families (kids 13 and under get in free). The money goes toward renting the site, plus partial proceeds support A Loving Spoonful, which provides nourishing meals to people living with HIV/AIDS.

Vancity members get in free, so remember to have that bank card handy. (There are ATMs onsite if you forget to bring cash.) There’s a market featuring vendors such as Zulu Records, as well as a rotating lineup of DJs, including Flipout and Cherchez La Femme. Kids have access to a bouncy castle and face-painting. Food prices vary, with most items costing between $5 and $9. Lunch for four of us came to $46.

Parking can be somewhat challenging, but there’s a pay lot across the road and some free street parking. Of course, you should be taking transit, walking, or cycling anyway; there’s even a bicycle valet. With so many fabulous trucks serving up generous portions made with passion, it helps if you’ve worked up an appetite.