Terry Ziegler and Susan Williamson have been walking around Spring Lake in Santa Rosa together once a week for 23 years. On Tuesday they turned their walk into a dinner date.
The longtime friends came upon the Tuesday night Sonoma County Regional Park's Park-n-Eat program in which at least three food trucks park near the lake and sell meals until dusk.
Operating since June on the shores of Spring Lake, the program has expanded to Ragle Park in Sebastopol on Saturdays and occasionally at Doran Beach.
Vendors pay $25 to sell food at the park and have agreed to donate 10 percent of their profits to the Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation, which supports the county's environmental education program for school children.
"Twenty thousand school kids go through the program every year. Fifty percent of our kids have come through on scholarships," said Mary Clemens, program manager.
"There are more kids needing scholarships," she said. "School field trips are a tough one."
At the peak of summer, one Park-n-Eat Tuesday evening pulled in $400 for the environmental education program, Clemens said.
The crowds weren't thick Tuesday night at the lake, but they were steady.
Cyclists, dog walkers and runners all stopped to load up plates of crepes and Mexican and Indian fare. One group came prepared — they unpacked a picnic blanket and uncorked bottles of wine while a young boy fished nearby.
David Musgrave, owner of Karma Mobile Indian food in Santa Rosa, said the 10 percent donation to the parks program is a good trade for steady business on a Tuesday night.
"Since we are mobile, our overhead is less," he said. "It makes me feel a little better — &‘OK, I'm paying for my spot.'"
Helene Morneau of Santa Rosa walks around Spring Lake with Baboosh, her goldendoodle, three or four times a week. She had seen the signs for Park-n-Eat before, but they had never quite registered with her. On Tuesday, she was touring the park with her niece and Baboosh when she came upon the three food trucks.
Morneau's excitement was tempered only by the fact that she didn't bring her wallet along for her evening exercise. But she vowed to return.
"We are going to come back next Tuesday and have dinner by the lake," she said. "How awesome is that?"
The program runs, weather permitting, from 4 p.m. to dusk through Oct. 31.
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