Barista E: Thanks! I am totally in the information gathering stage, not ready to quit my day job, though in that context I am already self employed, and flexible, so I think I can creep up on this idea stealthily.
By your own recommendations on other threads, I have contacted Original Seattle and the Idaho Guy to see what they have to say, but I didn't know the manufacturer would work it out for the local environment, so I am a step ahead, and more prepared to ask intelligent questions. I expect to hear from them after the holiday.
Scrolled around the website of my local health department last night, and I think it told me that a permit for a Temporary Eating Event, if applied for with sufficient notice, would be field approved as concessions were being set up. Of course, they reserved the right to be vague, they're the government! Made sense to me, in that if a folk festival had a couple dozen vendors, they'd be arriving from all over at more or less the last minute, and the health department would be working overtime, thanks to our tax dollars. Would you say that this would typically be the case, and as long as you had a home county permit, had made a timely application, had a rig with a rep for compliance, and showed up with it in clean condition, proper temp in the cooler, and so forth, that scoring the permit would likely be a simple matter?
And any more insider tips for wrangling with the manufacturers?