Local Feature: The Popcorn Festival

Every Monday, I have been featuring a shop or a local feature. I love, love LOVE shopping small and getting out and about in the community. I also love to share how you can also shop small and/or get out and about in the community!

Today I decided to start with something that I haven’t done before: I’m featuring a local attraction that is coming up THIS weekend (Sept 12-13). If you live in the Dayton are, the Beavercreek Popcorn Festival is a MUST! Of course, you can google the Beavercreek Popcorn Festival and find lots information, but I can give you more than just information! I can give some great insider tips!

The Popcorn Festival is a street fair located on Dayton-Xenia road in Beavercreek, next to the Kroger. The festival has over 200 booths with vendors, food trucks, play areas for kids, specialty popcorn and much, much more. It goes from 10 am to 8 pm on Saturday, Sept 12 and from 11 am to 6pm on Sunday, September 13.

The Popcorn festival is probably my favorite festival I’ve ever been to. It’s jam packed into only a few blocks, so you can cover the entire festival in an afternoon. It’s an amazing festival to find local business, learn more about our Beavercreek area, meet local pastors and visit their church booths, find ministries or organizations to volunteer at, find specialty services (like local photography, 31 consultants, etc), eat some good food, and of course…have a blast!! There is always live entertainment, too… the high school band, local dance troupes, a man who blows up balloons, mimes, etc.

(Fun Fact: Theo and I had thought a lot about adoption/foster care and knew we wanted to do it, but didn’t know how to take that first step. At the Popcorn Festival in 2013, we stopped at the Greene County Children’s Services booth and they gave us a packet to apply to be foster parents. And that was the first step towards becoming foster parents!)

In addition to the street fair, there is also a car show (Shoup Park) and a 5k! Entrance for the 5k is already closed, but the race starts at 8:30 if you are interested in watching/cheering!

 

FAQ’s:

Can I bring my dog?

Yes! As long as she/he is on a leash, you can bring your dog! Remember, it is crowded and there will be many other dogs (and TONS of children) there, so keep that in mind before bringing along ‘ol Fido!

Why Popcorn?

Each booth that sells food is required to sell some type of popcorn. Some of the booths are so creative and come up with some very interesting flavors!

Will you be there?

Um…yes. Of course I will. I absolutely LOVE street fairs, and as I mentioned above this one is no exception. I can be found walking around, browsing the different booths or eating some popcorn, or sitting on a bench and people watching. But most of the time I will be at our church booth.

What is the most popular booth at the Popcorn Festival?

Well, it’s funny that you should ask…because I happen to know the answer! Our church, Grace Covenant Church has a booth at the Popcorn Festival. This booth happens to be the #1 most popular booth at the Popcorn Festival. Why is that?? Well, because we are the ONLY booth to have FREE face painting and FREE water! And I’m not talking a little sunflower on your cheek type of face painting (although we could that if you want!), but I am talking pirates and tigers and beautiful butterflies type of face painting! Our face painters have been practicing for a while!!

Our church is small, but we have really banded together to make this an outreach event. (And when I say “we” I really mean particular people in our church with the last name of Craig). Over the years, we have become very organized at this event and our aim is to make sure that the kids are served/facepainted in a timely fashion and that no one gets skipped over. While your child is getting their face painted, you are free to sit in our tent, drink a cool bottle of water and have a nice conversation with someone from our church. Or just sit in silence if you really need.

Of course our goal is not just to paint faces and hand out free water, but instead to make sure that we are serving the community. Our pastor and other members of our church will always be there if you have any questions concerning spiritual matters, or if you simply need some advice in your life. There are also books available for you to take on topics like eating disorders, depression, divorce, struggling with anger, etc.

Please feel free to stop by!!!!

Where can I find your booth????!???

So glad you asked! Below is a very teeny, tiny map of the Popcorn Festival. Bear with me while I explain where we are located. Our church is called Grace Covenant Church, and we are booth D4. At the very top of the map you will find a large square that says Dayspring Ministries. Under and to the right are booths D1, D2, D3, and D4 (ding ding ding! That’s us!!!!). So if you are on the main drag and you want to find us, just look for the Kroger gas station. Directly opposite the gas station is a little side street. Walk up that side street and there we are!

I hope to see you there!!!!!!!!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.