We’re holding a big online auction with lots of fun and unique items, services, and experiences for people everywhere to bid on and win. Everything happens November 5th, 6th, and 7th and you just might get a sneak peek at some of the 2021 entertainment on the final day. CLICK HERE to visit the auction site, browse over 40 items, and get ready to place your bids.

As you know, we had to make the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Marion Popcorn Festival. We’re working to turn this year’s negative into a huge positive for 2021 and working further in advance on the planning and fundraising so the 40th Marion Popcorn Festival can be the best one yet.

And it isn’t just about the Popcorn Festival. We recognize other businesses and organizations are feeling the impact of COVID-19, too. With the festival being downtown, we thought it was the right decision to share a portion of the proceeds with some organizations in the area – Downtown Marion Inc & Main Street Reimagined.

This is a chance for you to help support 3 organizations AND the city of Marion all at once. Please spread the word and happy bidding!

To our Visitors, Sponsors, Vendors and Friends:

After careful thought and deliberation, The Board of Trustees of the Marion Popcorn Festival announces the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 festival, originally scheduled for September 10, 11, and 12 in Downtown Marion, Ohio.

For 39 consecutive years, Downtown Marion has welcomed the Marion Popcorn Festival the weekend after Labor Day. We have seen hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to Marion, Ohio for the world’s largest Popcorn Festival and enjoy all of their favorite food, crafts, rides and FREE National Headline Entertainment.

In planning a completely safe event for visitors and volunteers while complying with all the restrictions of crowd size and social distancing, safety with food and beverage, the possibility of not having rides, and national entertainers rethinking their tours, we have determined that the challenges of holding the 2020 festival with this high degree of uncertainty is just beyond our abilities this year.

Realize that this has been the most trying issue we have had as leaders of this festival. Thank you to our volunteers who work tirelessly year after year to bring a safe, enjoyable festival to all of us. We also thank our city and county government officials and our many food vendors and corporate sponsors for their support over the years.

We will be back next year to present an epic celebration for our entire community. The 40th Marion Popcorn Festival is now scheduled for the first weekend after Labor Day in 2021.

Mark your calendars, as we will see all of you September 9th through 11th, 2021 on the streets of Downtown Marion.

Thanks to everyone involved for making the 2019 Marion Popcorn Festival such a great event. With perfect weather, solid entertainment, and thousands of attendees, it was a lot of fun for people of all ages. We’re already working on the next edition (our 40th!) and can’t wait to see you back in Downtown Marion September 10th, 11th, and 12th, 2020.

We’re really excited about this year’s parade! With the largest number of floats we’ve had in several years and other fun additions and changes, it’s set to be an entertaining event for all ages.

We wanted to make sure everyone is aware of the updated parade route for this year cause nobody should miss the fun. The parade starts by heading west on East Center Street starting at Forest Lawn Boulevard. It then makes a left, turning south on State Street and another left going east on Church Street (in front of the Wyandot Popcorn Museum), before finishing up and disbanding at the fork of Church Street, Mount Vernon Avenue, and S Vine Street.

Congratulations to all our 2019 Marion Popcorn Festival Royalty! We know you’ll represent the festival well over the next year.

Miss Popcorn 2019: Payton Baxter
1st runner-up: Faith Baumgartner
2nd runner-up: Gabbie DeGood
3rd runner-up: Hannah Edler
4th runner-up: Hanah Reiff

Ms. Popcorn 2019: Jessica Coleman
1st runner-up: Meaghen Burns
2nd runner-up: Candace Floyd
3rd runner-up: Shaylah Monnette
4th runner-up: Jana Thomas

Miss Teen Popcorn 2019: Madisen Schenk
1st runner-up: Madeline Swain
2nd runner-up: Alysia Miller

Miss Teeny Pop 2019: Scarlett Roston
1st runner-up – Addisen Throckmorton
2nd runner-up – Camille Parker
3rd runner-up – Addison Geiser

Miss Wee Pop 2019: Everleigh Curren
1st runner up: Kilynn Messenger
2nd runner up: Karrington Frissora
3rd Runner up: Gracyn Mattox

Mr. Wee Pop 2019: Gregory Oswald
Runner up: Oakley Wollet

Little Miss Wee Pop 2019: RaeLynn Thrasher
1st runner up: Grace McDorman
2nd runner up: Audriella Coolbaugh
3rd runner up: Zalyah Berry

Little Mr. Wee Pop 2019: Tucker Eckard 
Runner up: Tegan Gorrell

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Mark your calendars for a NEW EVENT at the Marion Popcorn Festival – a FORTNITE Tournament! The tournament will be held indoors at Nathan’s Barber Shop (corner of Center Street and Prospect Street) on Friday, September 6th (10am-6pm) and Saturday, September 7th (10am-5pm). Event details can be found here.

Applications are now available for the Wee Pop Pageant and the Little Wee Pop Pageant. You can find each pageant’s application on its individual page.

Both pageants are scheduled for the morning of Sunday, August 4th, 2019, and will be held at River Valley High School.

For more information, contact Kaylee Wallace at [email protected].

Want to compete in this year’s program? Applications must be postmarked on or before July 20, 2019.

On Friday, September 6, appearing on the Main Stage of the 39^th annual Marion Popcorn Festival, at the corner of Church and Prospect Streets in downtown Marion, will be country-blues-rocker FRANKIE BALLARD steps on stage. Ballard released his latest album El Rio (Warner Nashville) to critical acclaim and was selected by Rolling Stone as one of the 25 Best Country and Americana albums of 2016 and The Tennessean as one of the best 16 Nashville albums of 2016.   The singer-songwriter has three #1 country hits to date and boasts Spotify streams in excess of  2.2 million.  With a combined album sales of over 450,000 to date with over 150 million total streams across all streaming platforms, Ballard continues to lead the lead country music mixing an American heartland rock sound with traditional country and blues. 

Frankie Ballard’s previous album, Sunshine & Whiskey, produced three consecutive no. 1 singles – the platinum-certified “Sunshine & Whiskey,” the gold-certified “Helluva Life,” and one of the Top 3 Billboard Country Airplay songs of 2015, “Young & Crazy.”  He has performed on national television including Today, Live with Kelly, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Ballard has performed and toured with Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Bob Seger, Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum, Big and Rich as well as at festivals such as Summerfest, Tortuga Music Festival, CMA Fest, and many more. 

El Rio was recorded at the famed Sonic Ranch, just south of El Paso in Tornillo, Texas, Ballard, band, and producer Marshall Altman left the comfort of Nashville in exchange for the opportunity to immerse themselves 24/7 creating this unique and fresh album. Rolling Stone describes the album as, “a different kind of album for the Michigan-born, Nashville-based songwriter, filled with country-rock anthems that have more in common with the heartland heroes of Ballard’s youth — especially Bob Seger and John Mellencamp — than the outlaws and highwaymen whose names are so often cited by country music’s younger class.”  Ballard explains in the same article, “It’s just my own brand of American music.  There’s rock & roll. There’s country stories and country lyrics and country songs. And there’s a lot of blues swagger and blues guitar playing. It’s all those things together.”  

Taking the Main Stage Saturday, September 7. 2019 will be multi-platinum American rockers, HINDER, who continue to drive a career of longevity that few bands achieve. Their stats resonate just that, selling over 4 million albums and 10 million singles, garnering north of 150 million video views, and passing the 100 million streams mark. Throw on top the endless energy HINDER has brought to over 15 headlining tours and you can see why they are still rocking long since their formation in 2001. 

August 11th of 2017 brought another career highlight. The release of their 6th Studio album, coincidentally titled THE REIGN, on The End Records/BMG.  This would be their 3rd release with the New York based record label, preceded by HINDER’s first ever acoustic EP STRIPPED on May 13, 2016.  Their 5th full-length studio album When The Smoke Clears entered the Billboard 200 while also claiming four other Top 10 chart positions upon its on May 12, 2015. 

As one of the few rock bands to grab massive cross-over success, HINDER’s 2005 debut album, Extreme Behavior, climbed to #6 on the Billboard 200 chart and was the 2nd Top Rock Album. Get Stoned would be the album’s first radio single, climbing to a #4 mainstream rock spot. What followed would end up being one of the biggest songs of the year, Lips of an Angel, which peaked within the top 10 across several Billboard singles charts, including #1 at Top 40 and Pop 100.  Extreme Behavior has since been certified 3x Platinum. Their hometown inducted them into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2008 their sophomore effort, Take It To The Limit, surpassed their debut by peaking at #4 on the Billboard 200 and hitting the Mainstream Rock chart at #3 with single Use Me.  This solidified HINDER as the biggest new breakout rock act and catapulting them into packed arenas worldwide with the likes of Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe, Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, Papa Roach, and many others.  HINDER proved consistent record hit making by following up with a #1 Top Modern Rock/Alternative Album, All American Nightmare (LP 3), and a #3 Top Hard Rock Album, Welcome To The Freakshow (LP 5). 

THE ULTIMATE METALLICA TRIBUTE, THE FOUR HORSEMEN, will be coming to the Marion Popcorn Festival and taking the stage on Thursday night, September 5. The Four Horsemen is the only studio-quality Metallica tribute in the Country. The band embraces the ‘No Life Til Leather’ attitude that made Metallica the Monsters of Metal during the 80s. The Four Horsemen deliver the ferocity of old school Metallica the way you heard it on the record and the way you saw it in concert in the 80s. They have performed before tens of thousands of people since 2004 and are constantly adding new cities to their schedule; they play the songs you know and love.

The Four Horsemen consists of Sean Perry, who embodies the guttural vocals and head-banging thrash energy of a young James Hetfield with the wit and sarcasm that made James infamous; an instant standout of the times. Mikey Kaufman is a guitar prodigy and effortlessly nails Kirk Hammett’s solos and brings a ton of head-banging and charm to the stage as he is always interacting with the crowd with a huge smile. Matt Akins holds down the tremendous task of filling the shoes of Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted and you can instantly hear he’s up for the challenge when he is playing. Drew Pencook is an Emmy Award Winning Drummer. He loves Lars Ulrich’s unique style. Perfection … every hit, every fill, all the double bass – it all has to be there or he is not happy. Drew was the last piece to embrace the role the way it needed to be done.

The Four Horseman are a stand out that is instantly obvious when you see their show. They are always developing, looking for ways to add to their stage show energy and expand their reach to new areas. They obsess over the finer details of the songs and bring a large amount of production equipment with them to give the crowd a visual presentation that is in step with many national acts. When you see The Four Horsemen’s stage set up, you know you’re in for one hell of a show.

OPENING FOR THE FOUR HORSEMEN, AS WELL AS BEING THE BIKE NIGHT OPENER, will be Upper Sandusky’s own, Grape Jam. This group delights in sharing good vibes with multi-genre covers, sultry originals, and seductive harmonies!

In 2015, Grape Jam “fermented” as an experimental jam band at White Shutter Winery near Upper Sandusky, OH. The band is a group of old friends who play music for the pure joy it brings. Grape Jam delights in experimenting with different styles of music, plays acoustic or electric shows big and small, gets together for improvised jam sessions and in 2016 a horn section was added.

With a dynamic tempo, groovy vibe and rich song choices, Grape Jam gets people on the dance floor, singing along and joining in the fun. The band features keys, meandering guitar solos, harmonica, bass riffs, sax, trumpets, flute, bongos, uke and more. Grape Jam plays a wide-range of music from multiple genres ranging from the 50’s through today.

The 2019 dates of the Marion Popcorn Festival are September 5, 6 and 7.  All performances on the Festival’s main stage begin at 8:30 p.m. and are free of charge.  A limited number of Kernel sponsorship seats are available for any of the Main Stage performances by calling 740-387-FEST.  Other events include the Popcorn Parade with over 300 units, a popcorn cooking contest, fine arts show, crafts, corn hole, Community Showcase Stage, Poppin’ Party stage and much more.