By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Mark it on your calendar — the Firefly Nights Fall Festival will be back on Bowling Green’s Main Street Friday, Oct. 18, 6-10 p.m.
Kati Thompson, one of the organizers, said in its second year, the festival will be adding some festive elements.
Trunk or treating will be consolidated in the Huntington Bank parking lot at the corner of Clough and South Main. Thayer Family Dealerships again will provide vehicles, and other community groups will also be handing out treats. Last year, the vehicles were spread throughout the two blocks of the festival and could be hard to find, Thompson said.
The fall festival took the place of downtown trick or treating that had grown too large to be safe.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau is hosting a Think BG pumpkin carving contest. According to the CVB, pumpkin designs must have a Bowling Green theme and be able to fit on a pedestal. Only one entry person is allowed. The carved pumpkins must be dropped off to the Four Corners Center on the morning of Oct. 18. To enter email: info@visitbgohio.org.
Also, the first 300 kids will be able to get a free pumpkin. Those are being handed out at the atrium as well.
Students from BGSU will perform stories around a simulated fire.
Act*BG is sponsoring an adult costume contest in the beer garden.
Thompson said the features that made Firefly Nights so popular will return — the music stage and beer garden; a variety of vendors; kids crafts and activities; and as many as 10 food trucks and vendors.
Musical acts schedule to perform are: Inside Voices, 6 p.m.; The Coomers, 6:45 p.m.; Brent Lowery, 7:45 p.m.; and Distant Cousins, 9 p.m.
For Thompson, who runs the Eden Boutique on South Main Street, the festival’s return to Main Street is welcomed.
The festival made do on Church Street for the July and August events, thanks in part to the city’s help, she said.
But the festival was conceived as a celebration of the Main Street. The businesses that help pay for it didn’t see “trickle effect” when the festival moved.
“There are some amazing hardworking business people down here who have endured months of construction. We’re really excited to reacquaint the community with what’s been here all along,” she said.
The Black Swamp Arts Festival offered a sign of hope, she said. “It was a great festival. It was great to look out our window and see all the people out on the street.”
