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Organizers ask Sunbury to host Smoke and Pop wing-and-music festival at Freedom Park
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Summary
Organizers of the Smoke and Pop wing-and-music festival asked the Sunbury Events & Commemorations Committee for endorsement to hold the ticketed event at Freedom Park on Oct. 3, citing police and fire cooperation and a plan that includes shuttles, vendor certification and veteran free admission.
Organizers of the Smoke and Pop wing-and-music festival asked the Sunbury Events & Commemorations Committee on April 21 for formal endorsement to hold the ticketed festival at Freedom Park on Oct. 3 with set-up the previous day.
Jillian Dusett Banton, an event organizer, told the committee, "So today, we wanted to bring forward, a formal ask to a consideration and approval for the event so we can start really marketing it properly and answer any questions." She said the Fallen Heroes Memorial would be a beneficiary and that the event’s first-year financial goal is to break even.
Brian Hove, who said his employer 97.1 The Fan has been a longtime media sponsor, described attendance growth at a previous venue: "from about 3 to 4,000 in year 1 to about 8,000 last year," and said Sunbury’s growing audience made the city an attractive new location. Hove said the event is ticketed and veterans would be admitted for free.
Organizers described coordination with public safety: the fire department reviewed tent spacing and vendor operations and asked organizers to submit a site diagram and vendor licenses; EMS was notified and will decide closer to the event whether to station a unit. A police-department representative said the department is "generally supportive" and recommended securing a secondary access point through an adjacent church as a contingency for an intersection incident.
Logistics presented to the committee included using Delaware County Transit shuttles to reduce on-site parking demand, working with OhioTent for tent delivery and setup, arranging hotel room blocks for visiting competitors, and bringing in a water tanker that the fire department agreed to fill. Organizers said a finalized site map will depend on the final number of competitors and will likely be ready by August.
Committee members and staff agreed organizers should appear before the parks committee and then city council for final approval. The organizers asked for the committee’s endorsement before those hearings; the chair scheduled the parks committee meeting at the high school at 6:30 p.m., with council to follow at 7:30 p.m., and asked organizers to return for that meeting.
The committee did not vote on the festival request at this meeting; staff and organizers said they will return with a finalized map, vendor approvals and a clearer competitor count before council consideration.
