Residents will get their first taste on July 28 when turf will be rolled out and the car park transformed into a communal space to enjoy the cool evenings of the dry season.

Hosted by the Katherine Town Council in partnership with the Northern Territory Government, the Katherine Food Van Collective event will then run every Sunday and Thursday night.

Council chief executive officer Ingrid Stonhill said the event, operating under the Activate Katherine banner, would "breathe life" into the town's unused spaces and would seek to replicate the success of a similar program in Darwin.

"The aim of this group is to breathe life into unused and unloved spaces in Katherine," Ms Stonhill said.

"Activate Katherine follows in the footsteps of the successful Activate Darwin, which invigorates empty spaces - in this case a big concrete carpark - and brings colour to them with adding people, art, and events."

Local businesses slated to be in attendance include Mr. Tom's Wood Fired Pizza, Bawang Katherine's Filipino cuisine and Bondi & Bourke's fish and chips.

The council CEO said the event schedule was carefully considered so the food vans would not eat into other businesses' bottom lines.

"We chose these nights around the busy weekend nights to fill a gap and not impact the operations of other Katherine businesses," Ms. Stonhill said.

"While council, in partnership with the Territory Government, is making this happen and promoting it, the food vans must be legally operating and pay for a permit so they are not unfairly getting a better deal than local restaurants and cafes that can't move location."

The first Katherine Food Van Collective event will take place on July 28 at 5:30pm, and businesses wishing to get involved can contact sinead.tewake@ktc.nt.gov.au.