On Friday, Collegetown will be teaming with scores of excited, drunken Cornellians eagerly anticipating the festivities on the Slope. Although for businesses, operating in the middle of the tumult could be a nightmare, Collegetown liquor stores said they are ready to face a surge in customers. 

City officials unanimously rejected appeals made by the owners of Louie’s Lunch and the Hot Truck of a new $2,153 fee to continue operating in their current locations, at a meeting of the City of Ithaca Board of Public Works Wednesday night.

The owners of Louie’s Lunch and the Hot Truck appealed an annual $2,153 fee assessed for the first time last summer by the Board of Public Works. On Feb. 27, the board will decide whether or not the truck owners will have to pay the fee.

At a school where the faces across campus change at a rapid pace, one would be hard pressed to find an institution that has more consistently or significantly played a role in Cornell student life during the past several decades than the Hot Truck.

It’s no surprise then that current Cornell students and alumni are mourning the loss of the founder and longtime operator of the Hot Truck, Robert C. Petrillose Sr., who was known around campus as “Hot Truck Bob.” Petrillose died on Dec. 8 in Elmira, N.Y. after a battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 77 years old.

Petrillose started his career at the family-owned Johnny’s Big Red Grill in Collegetown. While working as the chef and manager of Johnny’s, Petrillose started his pizza truck business in 1960.