FORT WORTH, Texas -- Without the exposure and non-stop crowds at Clearfork Food Park, the owners of Coco Shrimp aren't sure where their popular restaurant-on-wheels would be these days.
"People still ask us all the time, 'Are you guys going to be at Clearkfork?' It's right in the middle of everything," said Jordan Barrus, one of Coco's owners.
Over the weekend, the popular park for foodies sandwiched between University Drive and the Trinity Trails held its final hurrah.
"It's too bad," said Isaac Hadley, who co-owns Coco. "When we started there a few years ago, we just got completely overwhelmed. Lines like you wouldn't believe."
The park's operator, Chuck Briant, said by phone Monday that they learned last month their lease for the riverfront land wouldn't be renewed. Ownership recently changed hands. "It's valuable land," he said. "We had weddings out here, food trucks [...] just a lot going on."
He said their Fort Worth Food Park, located closer to the popular West 7th Street corridor, is still going strong. But a lot of Cowtowners freely admit Clearfork is where they got the food truck "bug."
It's where Jeanette Frank picked up a husband, too. "My husband proposed out here, which is really special to me," she said. Aside from that, the couple would regularly use the park as their meeting spot for Social Running events, a group they originally started.
"It's bittersweet because of our connection to this place," said Frank. She said a lot of joggers would come rain, shine, or snow, and often enjoy a quick meal as well.
The mother of two hopes whatever comes next doesn't completely alter the family and free vibe the park represented. "It's one of the last spots you can just stop and jump out of your car and start running," she said.
Coco now operates during special events, at local breweries, and also has a fixed truck location on Basswood Boulevard in north Fort Worth.