Valley Foodzilla festival celebrates small food businesses and artisans

By Michelle Edgar

What began as a neighborhood gathering built around food and family has quickly grown into one of the San Fernando Valley’s most anticipated monthly traditions, transforming the streets in front of San Fernando City Hall into a vibrant open air celebration of flavor, culture, and entrepreneurship.

Foodzilla is more than just a foodie event, it is designed to celebrate bold flavors and big ideas, according to organizers. The festival creates a welcoming platform for local chefs, home cooks, and emerging business owners to introduce their creations to the public while building visibility for small brands rooted in the community.

Oscar Urrutia, founder said Foodzilla has quickly become one of the San Fernando Valley’s most beloved events. It brings together food, music, and community in the Valley’s first city. Once a month, the streets in front of City Hall turn into a destination getaway filled with bold flavors from around the world. “Foodzilla has been developed to be a simple concept to bring back that old hometown feeling,” said Urrutia. “Sometimes you do not need flashy lights or over-the-top theatrics. Instead, a stroll down a street listening to the grills is all you need. It is great to see friends and family just having a nice evening together.”

Urrutia said Foodzilla has featured more than 65 curated vendors and small businesses, with standards designed to help entrepreneurs elevate their products and grow beyond a single event. “We want to give people a real chance,” Urrutia said. “There are so many talented cooks, creators, and families with incredible products who just need a platform and the right audience.”

For Urrutia, the larger vision extends far beyond one successful monthly festival. He sees Foodzilla as a model for how community driven events can strengthen local economies, create repeat foot traffic for nearby merchants, and restore civic pride through shared experiences. “When people come out for Foodzilla, they are not only supporting vendors, they are supporting the city,” he said. “They stop at shops, they discover restaurants, they bring their families, and they remember what community feels like.”

The next chapter is expansion taking Foodzilla across Southern California after July, with launches targeted for Santa Ana, broader Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Ventura County as part of a greater regional vision. “Our goal is to take what works here and bring it to other communities,” Urrutia said. “Every city deserves an event that celebrates small business, culture, and people coming together in a positive way.”

That broader reach comes as his company, My Valley Pass, is also stepping into major event production. The company is producing the Los Angeles World Cup Fan Zone at Hansen Dam Lake from July 2 through July 5, positioning the organization at the intersection of neighborhood festivals and global scale activations ahead of the FIFA World Cup. “We love building events that bring energy to communities,” Urrutia said. “Whether it is a local food festival or something tied to the World Cup, the mission is the same; create experiences people remember.”

For Urrutia, the mission remains rooted in the same principle that launched Foodzilla in the first place, creating spaces where people gather, small businesses thrive, and local pride can be felt one block at a time.