KENDALLVILLE — Downtown Kendallville will be getting an injection of magic next weekend.
For the second time, the Fairy, Gnome and Troll Festival will be setting up on Main Street on Saturday, Aug. 14 for four hours of family friendly fun.
With live entertainment, activity booths, vendors and more, the festival is hoping to recreate the massive success it had in its inaugural run back in May 2019.
Like most everything in 2020, last year’s fairy fest was called off due to COVID-19. This year, the festival was postponed from its usual May schedule date — the COVID situation had vastly improved early this year but was still too iffy in the spring for organizers to plan with certainty — but now is ready to go here in mid-August.
The return of the Fairy, Gnome and Troll Festival is also the return of major downtown events in Kendallville. Not only will it be the first major event to hit sidewalks and the street in the downtown since the pandemic started, it will also be the first one to enjoy Kendallville’s revamped Main Street corridor since streetscape work started in 2020.
The streetscape should be just about complete, too, right in time for the festival. After numerous delays, electrical work is finally wrapping up and street crews have been out planting the long-awaited trees this week.
The fairy fest is a unique offering for Kendallville, not just in its content but also in its genesis.
The festival was launched in 2019, building off the fairy door project that had taken root in downtown. In a partnership between the Main Street organization and the Kendallville Public Library, several Kendallville business agreed to host small, decorative fairy doors, which people can come by and scan with a cell phone to be taken to a website with small stories about the fairy, gnome or troll who lives inside.
City leaders decided to build on that eclectic, small project and pitched a downtown, fairy-themed festival.
At first glance it might have seemed like a small foundation to try to launch a downtown event off of, and expecting a big turnout based off a somewhat random concept maybe took some imagination.
But local families showed in 2019 that success wasn’t relegated to the realm of myth as hundreds showed up to take part in the first-ever event.
Now, the festival is back and hoping to capture the same level of attention and participation as the first.
The festival is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. along Main Street in downtown Kendallville, featuring numerous fixed booths as well as entertainment acts throughout the day.
Kids — and adults too, if they’re still young at heart — are invited to dress up in mystical attire appropriate to the theme for the event.
This year, the Striped Circus — a juggling, tumbling, acrobatic show — will return with two show times at the festival, at 10 a.m. and again at 1 p.m.
At noon, attendees can meet a fairy princess and a fairy story time will take place at 1 p.m. For those who stick around to the end of the festival, a costume contest judging is set for 2 p.m.
After the festival is over, the Strand Theatre will be hosting a special afternoon showing of the 2016 animated film “Trolls.” Admission to the movie is free, with the film sponsored by KPC Media Group.
All-day entertainment and offerings at the various booths include:
• Family photo booth operated by KPC Media Group
• Bubble party
• Dunk a troll
• Fairy tea party hosted at WhatchamaCAKES
• Face painting and balloon art
• Crafts and creations
• Food vendors and festive treats
• The “Troll Tunnel of Terror” (not too scary, though)
• Kid’s obstacle course
• Bounce house
• Other fun games and activities
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