By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
“A bump in the road” is pushing this week’s Firefly Nights over one block to Church Street.
“We’re just taking our footprint and pushing it one street west and then making few adjustments,” said Kati Thompson, one of the founders of the summer festival series. “We will still have all the same components. People can expect the same great feeling, the same great experience just one street over.”
The second Firefly summer festival of the year will be held Friday, July 19, from 6-10 p.m. in downtown Bowling Green, along Court Street. As usual the festival will feature live music, a beer garden, nine food trucks, arts and crafts vendors, and plenty of activities for kids.
The conditions of the downtown streets forced the move, said Gayle Walterbach, another member of the committee. “We want the volunteers and attendees to be safe.”
The whole summer has been a challenge, she said.
Or as co-founder Laura Wicks referred to it with calculated understatement as “just a little bump in the road.”
The boundaries of the festival will be the same just one block to the west.
The beer garden and music will be in the city parking lot on the northwest corner of the intersection of West Wooster and Church streets.
The music lineup will be: Moths in the Attic, 6 p.m.; Chloe and the Steel Strings, 6:45 p.m.; The Codgers, 7:45 p.m.; and Three Two Many, 9 p.m.
The shift means that the festival can spread out onto Wooster Green. Kids zones will be on the green as well as on North and South Church Street. Ten vendors will be on Wooster Green, and food trucks will line South Church. Food trucks scheduled are: JimmyG’s BBQ, Roe’s Concessions, The Leaf & Seed, Big Daddy’s Sausages, Weenie Dawgs, BGSU Test Kitchen, Poppin’ George Kettle Corn, and Koral Hamburg.
Kabob It and Qdoba will be on North Church near the beer garden with the information tent across North Church.
With 25 downtown businesses supporting the festival financially, the event will feature a scavenger hunt with prizes to encourage people to visit those restaurants and shops. A card listing all the specials will be available Friday night.
Many have back entrances, and access through alleys to Main Street will be open.
“There will still be a lot of places to eat and shop,” Thompson said.
The festival area will be structured so that all city parking lots will be accessible and open. At the southern boundary vehicles will be able to enter and exit the parking lot behind Grounds for Thought. The lot next to it behind Ben’s will be accessible through the alley off West Wooster that runs behind the police station. That traffic will then exit onto Church.
The reaction to those who have heard about the move has been positive. “Everyone said, ‘let’s do this,’” Thompson said.
Firefly has a team of volunteers dedicated to making the event happen, Wicks said, and “the city is bending over backwards to make sure we can put this on.”
