Entreprenuers bring their business to El Dorado food festival

Candley’s Cookin’ had its annual El Dorado Tri-State Food Truck Festival this past Saturday, with food vendors and crafty businesses from all over.

Vendors came from different states such as Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas and Arkansas. Several vendors at the festival shared details about where they came from, their business, and how they got started.

“Last year, I had pulmonary embolism,” said Saquita Taylor, CEO of A Second Chance. “I lost my life twice. So, after that, I just started thinking about how this is another chance. I began making shirts, crafting and designing many types of things.”

Taylor said her business includes T-shirt designing, canvases, mugs and a little bit of everything. “I am based in Texas, but I travel back and forth,” she said.

“I’m coming from Memphis, and we like to spread love around all areas and let everybody know about Comfort Food Zone,” said another business owner Neil Bowen. “Southern has a class by itself. The reason why I say that is because we jump out the box. We give out big portions of food no matter how much inflation goes up, we still try to keep up with it.”

Bowen said they give what out what the people pay and that’s what’s important to them.

“We serve southern comfort food,” he said. “From good chicken wings to a good lamb Philly.”

Business owner Precious Charlie showed off her candles.

“I started this business in November of 2024,” said Charlie, who runs A Precious Flame Candle Company. “I originally started with cotton wicks and just your original candle jars. Then after a while, I didn’t like the way that the candles burned, and the scent didn’t last long. So, I decided to upscale.”

Charlie said her current line of jars are for men and women and are reusable. She added she swapped out cotton wicks for wood wicks due to it being a low burner, causing the scent to last longer.

“The jars are reusable but I offer the refill kit, so you can take the proper steps on how to use them,” she said. “I’m based out of Sherwood, Arkansas, and I offer three pickup locations for convenience for my customers.”

Another food business was showcased by Ernesto Dovar, owner of MC Gorditas.

“This food business came about because I wanted to do something good in life,” Dovar said. “When I was younger, I was selling hamburgers, and then I quit. And I figured, once I get older, I will start my own Mexican food business, and that’s what I did.”

Dovar said they are based out of Lonoke, Arkansas, and he hopes to expand his food truck business into restaurants one day.