By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Even after a wet start to the evening, the more than 200 people who were around at the end for Friday’s Firefly Night festival, still wanted more music from the closing act Freight Street.
So the local folk-rock quintet, fronted by Boo Lee Crosser with singer Flannery Murnen, drummer JP Stebal, bassist Devonte Stovall, and violinist Kathleen Schnerer, obliged.
From left, Amy Craft Ahrens, Kati Thompson, Stacie Banfield, and Laura Wicks announce a another Firefly Nights downtown festival will be held Oct. 19.
This was to have been end of the three-event community festivals for the season. But organizers also have an encore planned.
The businesswomen who spearheaded and organized Firefly Nights in downtown Bowling Green announced at the end of the night that there will be one more festival this year on Oct. 19.
The October event will feature the same mix of music, food, kid activities, and shopping, only with a Halloween theme. Working with Downtown Bowling Green, the Firefly Night fest will take the place of downtown treat or treating.
Mary Hinkelman, director of Downtown BG, said that the festival was a way to continue the trick or treating while adding more activities both for youngsters and the whole family.
Ezekile Romanin makes a marshmallow shooter at Ace Hardware with help from his father Michael Romanin and Ace staff Olivia Jinnings and Raffy Fretter.
Kati Thompson, one of the Firefly founders, said the idea came up through discussions by the organizers. Hinkelman responded favorably to the possibility, and suggested using it to replace downtown trick or treating. With about 2,000 kids taking part last year, the event is becoming unmanageable, she said, with kids having to wait in long lines to get their treats.
They then approached the city about the possibilities of staging another festival, which requires closing Main Street in downtown off to traffic. City officials approved.
In announcing the event, Thompson said: “Don’t worry we’ll still have plenty of treats for the children, but we’ll combine that with fun for the entire community.”
What Halloween activities will be offered and how the treat or treating will be handled is still being discussed.
Possibilities include hayrides, a kiddie parade, Halloween and fall themed activities, doughnuts and cider, and even a costume contest for children and adults.
Thompson said details will be forthcoming. The Oct. 19 Firefly Nights festival will be held 6-10 p.m., same as the summer events.
Kids running in the rain as the downpour starts.
Friday’s event got off to a soggy start with a downpour shortly after it began. Festivalgoers sought shelter under awnings, and in shops and restaurants.
Laura Wicks and Gayle Walterbach, two of the founders, said they expected restaurants did well. Boosting local business is part of the mission of Firefly Nights, they said. But the food trucks that stayed had lines by closing time.
Other vendors, however, probably suffered.
That’s the nature of an outdoor festival, Wicks said.
Both were upbeat at how the summer events had gone, and enthusiastic about the encore to come.
