Marine to host first ever Taco Festival
By Devese “Dee” Ursery
dursery@timestribunenews.com
The Taco Shack will host the first ever Taco Festival in support of an officer who was killed in the line of duty.
The inaugural Taco Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 10, in Marine Village Park, located at 300 North Duncan. The free event will feature eight food trucks, with four being taco trucks, four musical acts and over 70 vendors.
The 2023 Taco Festival will be in support of the Tyler Timmins Memorial Foundation. Timmins, a Pontoon Beach Police Officer was killed in the line of duty on October 26, 2021. He was 36-years-old and a 14-year veteran of the department. 
In his untimely death, Timmins left in mourning a wife and a young daughter. Terry Perrin, the man behind the idea of the festival, explained the beginning of the foundation.
“After his death, the Timmins family started a foundation, to help out families of police officers and firefighters who have been hurt or killed in the line of duty,” Perrin said. “It didn’t cost us anything to help.”
Perrin, the owner of the Taco Shack, said that a friend suggested that he do something good with the festival. Perrin said that the friend indicated that he should look into getting some sponsors and sponsor the Tyler Timmins Memorial Foundation.
Perrin said that he built the Taco Shack with his own hands out of a 2021 cargo trailer that he bought in the middle of the government shut down.
“When they say blood, sweat and tears, there were no tears, but I was cut a few times putting the sheet metal in here,” Perrin said.
Perrin jokingly said that he started making tacos because his mother couldn’t cook and they were easy to make. Before opening the Taco Shack, Perrin was a truck driver making decent money, but was tired of working for other people and decided to go all in with the food truck.
“I just wanted to know what I was doing and wanted to be able to decide when or where I was going to do it,” Perrin said. “I’m just a guy that’s always been able to make good tacos and I got tired of working for other people.”
