Marion Popcorn Festival | |
---|---|
Status | active |
Genre | festivals |
Frequency | Annually, First weekend after Labor Day |
Location(s) | Marion, Ohio |
Coordinates | 40°35′12″N83°7′35″W / 40.58667°N 83.12639°W |
Country | US |
Years active | 42–43 |
Inaugurated | 1981 |
Website | www |
The Marion Popcorn Festival is held every year in downtown Marion, Ohio, United States. The festival was established in 1981 and is held annually during the first weekend after Labor Day in September. Marion was once an epicenter of popcorn manufacturing, made by such companies as Wyandot Snacks and Orville Redenbacher's (currently made by ConAgra). Wyandot Snacks was once the largest exporter of popcorn in the United States, [1] and Cracker Jack was manufactured in Marion for almost a decade. In 1982, the second year of the festival, Wyandot Snacks presented a 40 foot long bag of popcorn, which they submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for consideration as the largest bag of popcorn in the world. [2]
Festival organizers schedule nationally known acts like Gloria Estefan, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Lorrie Morgan, The Neville Brothers, and native son Huey Lewis and the News to perform at the festival. It is said to be the biggest popcorn festival in the world, attracting crowds of over 250,000. [3]
In 2004, the Travel Channel came to the festival and recorded parts of the festival as part of Taste of America with Mark DeCarlo. [4]
In 2016 Kellie Pickler and Skid Row performed. In 2017 The Georgia Satellites and the Gin Blossoms performed.
In 2019 Frankie Ballard and Hinder performed. [5]
The 2020 Festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marion is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Ohio, United States. It is located in north-central Ohio, approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of Columbus. The population was 35,999 at the 2020 census, down slightly from 36,837 at the 2010 census. It is the largest city in Marion County and the principal city of the Marion micropolitan area. It is also part of the larger Columbus–Marion–Zanesville, OH Combined Statistical Area.
Cracker Jack is an American brand of snack food that consists of molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn cornballs and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of trivial value inside. The Cracker Jack name and slogan, "The More You Eat, The More You Want" were registered in 1896. Food author Andrew F. Smith has called it the first junk food.
Popcorn is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of popcorn dating back thousands of years in the Americas. It is commonly eaten salted, sweetened, or with artificial flavorings.
Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based chips invented by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips". It is technically considered an extruded snack because of the manufacturing process. The brand was sold in 2012 to Kellanova, but in 2024 Kellanova, Kellogg's parent company agreed to be purchased by Mars Inc.
Cheetos is a crunchy corn-cheese puff snack brand made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos in 1948, and began national distribution in the United States. The initial success of Cheetos was a contributing factor to the merger between The Frito Company and H.W. Lay & Company in 1961 to form Frito-Lay. In 1965 Frito-Lay became a subsidiary of The Pepsi-Cola Company, forming PepsiCo, the current owner of the Cheetos brand.
Bugles are a corn snack produced by General Mills and Tom's Snacks.
The Marion County Historical Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1969 located in Marion, Ohio, United States. In 1989, the Society acquired Marion's "U.S. Post Office," renaming it "Heritage Hall". This National Register building now serves as the Society's headquarters and museum that houses a collection of artifacts, photographs, and documents related to the county's history.
Cape Cod Potato Chips is an American snack food company best known for their brand of kettle-cooked potato chips. The company is headquartered in Hyannis, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Cape Cod Potato Chips is a brand owned by Campbell Soup Company since 2018.
Bluebird Foods Ltd is a New Zealand division of the U.S.-based PepsiCo corporation, that manufactures snack foods. All snacks are manufactured at the Bluebird Foods factory in Wiri, Auckland.
Chips Ahoy! is an American chocolate chip cookie brand, baked and marketed by Nabisco, a subsidiary of Mondelez International, that debuted in 1963. Chips Ahoy! cookies are available in different variations such as, original, reduced-fat, chunky, chewy, and candy-blasts; each can be identified by variations in the color of the package. For example, Chips Ahoy! original has blue color packaging, while Chips Ahoy chewy has a red packaging.
Jays Foods, Inc., is an American manufacturer of snack products including potato chips, popcorn and pretzels. Jays Foods was founded in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, and is currently a subsidiary of Snyder's of Hanover. Operating in several Midwestern states, Jays Foods' potato chips and popcorn maintain significant shares of their respective markets.
Wise Foods, Inc. is a company based in Berwick, Pennsylvania, that makes snacks and sells them through retail food outlets in 15 eastern seaboard states, as well as Vermont, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C. Best known for its several varieties of potato chips, Wise also offers Cheez Doodles, bagged popcorn, tortilla chips, pork rinds, onion rings, Dipsy Doodle chips, nachos, Quinlan brand pretzels, and French onion dips.
Shearer's Foods, LLC is a U.S. manufacturer and distributor of snack foods. Founded in 1974 as Shearer's Snacks, it is headquartered in Brewster, Ohio.
Frito-Lay, Inc. is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips, Lay's and Ruffles potato chips, Rold Gold pretzels, and Walkers potato crisps. Each brand generated annual worldwide sales over $1 billion in 2009.
Snak King is a privately owned snack food manufacturer founded in 1978, headquartered in Industry, California. Snak King manufactures potato chips, tortilla chips, nuts, popcorn and other snacks under private label as well its own proprietary brand names . The company is one of the largest manufacturers of snack foods in the United States, employing about 950 people and operating more than 600,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space.
Wyandot Snacks is a privately held and family owned American contract manufacturer of snacks and other packaged foods, headquartered in Marion, Ohio, a part of the Columbus, Ohio Combined statistical area. primarily as a contract manufacturer for domestic and international branded snack businesses, but also for foodservice customers. The company's main product lines are extruded snacks, corn & tortilla chips, and ready to eat (RTE) popcorn. Wyandot's focuses on the creation of plant-based snack products made from ancient grains such as sorghum and quinoa, pulses such as chickpeas, and flaxseed, among others.
LesserEvil is an American snack company located in Danbury, Connecticut founded in 2004. The company makes a variety of packaged snack products including prepopped popcorn and extruded snacks.