Students from Don Lugo High School perform in a flashmob during Chino Valley Unified's food truck fundraiser Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 at Don Lugo High School. Khai Le/Correspondent

CHINO – It’s been five months since Chino Hills High School student Hana Reddin, 17, ate the chili cheese fries at the Frysmith food truck.

“I’m so satisfied right now,” she said, stabbing the cheesy mess of a meal with her fork. “Last time, I waited an hour and a half and it was worth it. This time I ran to the front of the line.”

On Saturday, the Chino Valley Unified School District hosted its second food truck festival at Don Lugo High School. Its inaugural Chino Valley Foodie Festival five months ago raised $15,000 for the cash-strapped school district.

Lee Grammer pases out samples of red velvet cupcakes from the Suite 106 Cupcakery food truck during Chino Valley Unified's food truck fundraiser Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 at Don Lugo High School. Khai Le/Correspondent

As school board President James Na touted the attendance and graduation rates during a State of the District speech, hungry food truck fans noshed on well-dressed hot dogs and smothered fries.

To work out all that calorie-dense food, the dance teams from Ayala and Don Lugo high schools conducted a flashmob with a dance routine backed by the school choir. There was also some dancing at a Block Party Game Truck.

Four friends from Riverside, with no connection to the school district, drove out to sample the unusual food truck offerings.

“We each venture out to different trucks, then come back and share,” said Teresa Herrera.

Herrera had just finished her french toast with bacon while her friends were working on a spaghetti taco, Korean beef taco and a grilled cheese sandwich with short ribs.

Riverside and San Bernardino are the only two counties that ban food trucks outside of special events like the school district fundraiser. Although the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors recently relaxed some food truck regulations, these mobile vendors are still not able to roam the way they can on the streets of Los Angeles and Orange counties.

That’s fine with Herrera, a self-described food truck fan.

“This is a contained environment; it keeps the uniqueness,” she said. “If they were everywhere, the quality would go down.”

The 14 trucks that lined the basketball courts of Don Lugo were definitely unique.

Lardon, a truck that worships bacon, puts bacon on every thing including their desserts. Their Nutella brownie is sprinkled with sea salt and – why not? – bacon.

The Buttermilk truck, which specializes in breakfast food, serves up red velvet pancake bites with chocolate chips.

Bool, the ultimate fusion truck, stuffs a Brazilian pastry with Korean beef and chicken.

Tonja Bellard of Chino Hills brought her son and daughter to check out the food truck experience for the first time.

Bellard took a bite out her carne asada taco from the Don Chow truck and rolled her eyes back.

“Whatever that sauce is … kill me now,” she said.

Bellard had never been to a food truck fair and is now thinking of introducing it to her church.

“It’s a cool event. I hope it makes a lot of money for the school,” she said. “The coolest part is seeing these kids out there supporting their school.”

Self-professed “foodies” or those who want to see what everyone’s talking about are invited to the Chino Valley Foodie Truck Festival.

Guests can sample tidbits galore from some of the Southland’s most famous and sought-after food trucks. And they can even feel good about munching down since this is a huge fundraiser for the Chino Valley Unified School District. Dollars spent on sampling everything from sweet cupcakes to sizzling shrimp will help support students in their educational pursuits.

“It’s a delicious way to support our schools,” said Julie Gobin, communications director for the school district.

An armada of trucks is expected at the fundraiser on Sept. 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Don Lugo High School, 13400 Pipeline Ave., Chino. The expanded version of this event will include 14 trucks, a Block Party Game truck, a Flashmob performance from students, musical entertainment and facepainting for youngsters.

New, too, this year will be a noon State of the District address by James Na, Board of Education president, who will be outlining all of the district’s successes as well as some of the challenges it still must face.

Tickets are $6 in advance and children 5 years old and younger are free. Tickets can be purchased at Don Lugo High School or online at www.chinovalleyfoodiefestival.com The price increases to $8 that day.

“Our inaugural Chino Valley Foodie Festival

in April was a terrific community day that helped raise money for our schools. There was a lot of interest in the event so we determined to mesh the Foodie Truck Festival fundraiser with the annual State of the District with the goal of broadening the appeal. We are very excited,” Gobin said.

The community came out in force last spring and event organizers are hoping to surpass that success. After all, the afternoon is designed to be a family friendly activity aimed at providing a fun day for all, while still keeping the purpose of it all in mind – securing the financial resources it takes to help children shine in the classroom.

Gobin and Angela Turner of Launch Lady LLC came up with the fundraising idea while brainstorming possible projects. They wanted to attract district students and their families as well as friends and neighbors from outside the Chino Valley.

“The trend is so hot (it has spawned several television shows and trucks have built huge followings) and seeing that there was not anything in our backyard of this nature, it seemed like the event to introduce into the community and hopefully have it become a community event,” Gobin said.

She said it took a lot of work to coordinate this event, which combined fundraising, food and public school funding in such a new way. It all paid off, though.

“It’s a family event – there were different generations attending together in April. People who no longer have children in our schools saw it as a chance to support the schools and eat great food. Many of the attendees told us they travel throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties to the food truck events and were happy that it was an event to support our students. We knew we had a winner when people didn’t want to leave,” she said.

The festival will feature some favorite returnees and some new ones. The lineup is Bol Korean BBQ, Buttermilk, Don Chow Tacos, Frysmith, Greasy Weiner, Cool Haus, Get Your Lardon, Pie N Burger, Rolling Sushi Van, Rebel Bite, Shrimp Pimp, Suite 106 Cupcakery, Tapa Boy and Ludobites, the brainchild of celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre.

A video game truck – Block Party Game Truck – is scheduled along with other entertainment. More than 100 Chino Valley Unified School District high school students will be featured in a Flashmob performance. The performance will showcase their hard work in learning the lyrics and dance moves to a song all in two weeks.

“It is a wonderful way for families to check out the latest trends in food while enjoying student entertainment, visiting with their neighbors and supporting their schools while enjoying a picnic-like atmosphere,” Gobin said.

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