By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Firefly Nights will return to downtown Bowling Green Friday June 16 with the same mix of kids activities, food trucks, arts and craft vendors, and musical performances.
This year the event will begin a half hour earlier, at 5:30 p.m. and continue until 9:30 p.m.
In previous years, the event was ready to start at 5:30, so why not get it going, said Michelle Elson, one of the four members of the committee that stages the summer fairs. The earlier closing gives the volunteer crew a little extra time to get the road open.
“Things are evolving and growing. We plan to bring more fun this year,” Elson said.
Also, on the board of directors are Amy Simmons, Kat Patterson, and Kristen Strum. The children’s activities leaders are Amber Hines and Matty Sayre.
Elson said face painting will be back by popular demand. There will be chalk drawing on the asphalt and bubble play. This year magician Andrew Martin will be the strolling entertainer.
The food trucks will again be in the Huntington Bank lot on the southeast corner of South Main and Clough. Elson noted that the parking lot is part of the DORA area. Last year, it wasn’t and that caused some confusion.
The music will again be presented in the lot with the Great Black Swamp mural.
For Friday’s show the music will be performed by two stalwarts of the local music scene AmpWagon, taking the stage at 6:30, followed at by Corduroy Road at 8.
The biggest change for this year will be the event’s footprint. Wooster Green will not be used. This reduces the number of volunteers needed and simplifies the logistics, Elson said.
All the activities that were located on the green will now be on Main Street. The fair extends from Court Street on the north to Washington Street on the south. That includes the bounce houses.
About two dozen vendors will be on hand. Elson said that vendors from other communities are hearing about Firefly Nights and want to participate. They will be selling a wide variety of arts and crafts.
Friday’s festival will be one of two staged this year. The other will be July 21.
Elson said the committee decided not to hold an August festival. The calendar is full in August with the Wood County Fair, campus move-in, the tractor pull, and Rally BG on Main, a town-gown gathering presented by the city and BGSU. The Black Swamp Arts Festival is staged the weekend after Labor Day.
The current leadership team took over last summer from the downtown businesswomen who launched Firefly Nights in 2018. The street fair has survived despite having to be relocated during 2019 because Main Street was torn up, and then canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.
“One of the biggest things we learned is we can’t please everybody,” Elson said. The committee remains dedicated to providing fun for the community. “We just keep moving forward the best we can.”
