By KEVIN CORVO Wednesday, September 13, 2017 9:41 AM Download a PDF version of this article.
Favorable weather drew crowds Sept. 9 at the Old Hilliardfest Art & Street Fair, and many people ended up at the new food court in the parking lot of the former NAPA Auto Parts store on Center Street.
Food always has been one of the event’s attractions but this year organizers made it a larger focus, concentrating vendors along Center Street and creating a food-truck area in the new parking lot.
“I’ve been (to Old Hilliardfest) most years and I like what they’ve done (this year) a lot,” said Joel Hughes, who attended with his wife, Devin, and their 6-year-old daughter, Mia.
Yvonne Tenant and Laura Turney also attended.
Tenant said she went to the festival five years ago and was “pleasantly surprised with how large it has grown,” with a variety of vendors and entertainment options.
She said she saw the festival advertised on social media and set up an electronic reminder.
“I’ve been looking forward to it,” Tenant said.
It was Turney’s first visit to the festival.
“It’s a great festival,” she said. “It’s good to see a community support a festival like this.”
Mike and Rosalind Highfield, owners of Puff-N-Stuff Kettle Corn Co. of Canfield in northeastern Ohio were new vendors.
The couple launched the company earlier this year and have a relative who lives in Hilliard.
“We saw (Old Hilliardfest) on the internet (and) decided we wanted to come,” Rosalind Highfield said.
Old Hilliardfest also included a classic car show, three stages of entertainment and a variety of community services, including the Hilliard Division of Police’s EZ Child ID, an app for law-enforcement agencies that stores fingerprints and other vital information about children for emergency purposes.
“It’s important, unfortunately, because of the world we live in to have this kind of information quickly available,” said Tina Stewart, who registered her 9-year-old daughter, Katelyn.