Valparaiso Popcorn Fest

Before Downtown Pops Off

For one Saturday in September, downtown Valparaiso changes completely. Lincolnway and the surrounding downtown streets become festival space. Hundreds of vendor booths move in. Crowds gather around Central Park Plaza. The Popcorn Parade brings another wave of activity through the city.

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THE CHALLENGE

Make Room for Popcorn Fest

Vendor booths spread across streets including Lincolnway, Indiana Avenue, Washington Street, Franklin Street, Michigan Avenue, Lafayette Street and Napoleon Street. Central Park Plaza becomes a major entertainment destination, while food, family activities and other festival attractions create additional gathering areas. For the sanitation plan, that means an open curb during setup isn’t necessarily a good restroom location. A vendor trailer could occupy the space next door. Barricades could change the approach. A pedestrian route could become much busier than expected.

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DOWNTOWN ROAD ACCESS

Lincolnway and the surrounding streets are part of the event footprint. Deliveries have to be coordinated around road restrictions, barricades, vendors, security and other crews preparing downtown.

HUNDREDS OF VENDORS

More than 340 vendors are expected throughout downtown. Booths, tents, food operations and support vehicles use space that would normally be available for traffic and deliveries.

MULTIPLE BUSY AREAS

Central Park Plaza, the Main Stage, Beer Garden, food areas, children’s activities and vendor streets can create different concentrations of people throughout the day.

PARADE + FESTIVAL TRAFFIC

The 10:00 a.m. Popcorn Parade adds another moving piece. Parade staging, spectators and road restrictions have to be considered alongside the festival footprint when planning truck access.

THE PROJECT AT A GLANCE

HOURS

DELIVERY WINDOW

TOILETS + SINKS

DEPLOYED

TRUCKLOADS

OF EQUIPMENT

TEAM MEMBERS

ON SITE

OUR APPROACH

SERIES OF ACTIVITY ZONES

A festival this spread out can’t be planned around one restroom bank. The sanitation plan has to consider how people will use different parts of downtown. Vendor booths stretch across multiple downtown blocks.

THE DOWNTOWN STREET GRID

During normal conditions, that grid gives vehicles several ways to move through downtown. Festival setup changes that. Vendor booths occupy streets. Barricades restrict traffic. Pedestrians replace vehicles in areas that were accessible only hours earlier. We have to account for those changes before trucks arrive.

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Delivery timing becomes especially important when hundreds of vendors are preparing for the same opening time. Portable restroom trucks may be moving through downtown while tents, food trailers, barricades and other event infrastructure are arriving. That creates a limited window for getting equipment into locations that may become difficult or impossible to access later.

Sunrise in distance between pumper trucks on road.

service sanitation worker dollying porta potty across downtown valparaiso, indiana.

THE END RESULTS

Sanitized & Satisfied

For a municipal event team, portable sanitation is one piece of a much larger operation. There are vendors to coordinate, streets to manage, entertainment to run, crowds to direct and a parade moving through town.By planning quantities, locations and truck access around the actual festival footprint, we can help the event team prepare for how downtown will function once the streets are full.