Kettle popcorn.
Tilt-a-Whirls.
Funnel cakes.
Harry Potter?
It’s that time of year again.
The time when we close off streets, forget the diet and salute everything from cherry blossoms to hamburgers to match sticks to fictional characters.
And like past years, there is a full slate of fairs and festivals filling the summer calendar. There’s even a nifty website (ohiofestivals.net/2017-ohio-schedule/) that lists most — although I did find a few noticeable absences including several area county fairs — of the festivities statewide, so you can travel near and far to fill your tummy with carnival food and win a giant stuffed banana or two.
Good news
Thanks to the website, we now know the Annie Oakley Festival in Ansonia is still on July 28 to 30, but the Leetonia Bigfoot Festival has been canceled for next month.
Kicking off the season in the Akron area is the Cherry Blossom Festival that runs this weekend in Barberton.
Like we really need a reason to park the ol’ SUV and take a stroll around beautiful Lake Anna in the first place?
In addition to a scenic location, the festival at least offers some good local flavor and a nice parade that kicks off at 10 a.m. Saturday and marches its way through downtown.
Heading into Memorial Day, the Kenmore Community Days festival is back. And, like Barberton’s festivities, there is a community parade.
The 2017 Kenmore Community Days Festival runs May 26 through May 28. Organizers say this year’s carnival, as of now, will be held at a new location at Shadyside Park on Kenmore Boulevard. The parade will still step off at 11 a.m. May 27 from Kenmore High School.
June
The Riverfront Irish Festival is the first big June festival in the event space just off state Route 8 in Cuyahoga Falls.
This year’s event is June 9 to June 11.
The festival’s musical guests include Dulahan and Mary’s Lane and there’s even a Mass in the Falls River Square Amphitheater at 11 a.m. June 11.
Up stream, er, river, the following weekend is the Duck Derby when rubber ducks are dumped into the canal in a race to the finish line.
The Canal Parks Association is having just a one-night affair this year from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. June 16 at the historic Mustill store, 57 W. North St, in Akron with duck racing, a cookout and live music.
And it will be all about matchsticks at the Blue Tip Parade and Festival that runs June 20 to 24 in Memorial Park in Wadsworth just north of the Art Wright Football Stadium.
The festivities that mark the city’s past role in the matchstick industry starts with a parade June 20 and the lighting of a giant, 20-foot blue tip match that lights downtown Wadsworth during the festival’s duration.
They will be igniting fireworks and firing up powerful boat motors at the Rock the Docks along the shore of the Portage Lakes off state Route 224 from June 23 to June 25.
The festival, which is a cooperative venture with Springfield Township and Lakemore Village, includes live music, kids’ crafts, free pontoon boat rides, carnival rides and food along with some pretty loud fireworks.
Not to be outdone, Akron ends the month and starts off July with a bang with its Rib, White and Blue Festival downtown June 30 to July 4.
Rib vendors set up shop downtown. It all ends July 4 with the Akron Symphony Orchestra performance at Lock 3 at 8 p.m. and fireworks at 9:45 p.m.
July
It might seem a few months early, but the Cuyahoga Falls Oktoberfest (Sommerfest) sets up shop in the city’s event space July 7 to 9.
The following weekends are rival Italian festivals in Akron and the Falls.
First to toss a pizza pie is the Summit County Italian American Festival July 13 to 15 in and around Lock 3 in Akron.
Last year some 50,000 people visited the festival.
Save some room for a cannoli for desert the following weekend, when it will be all things Italian once again at the Festa Italiana in Cuyahoga Falls July 21 to 23.
Then it will be all about the blue-ribbon pies and jams and prize animals at the Summit County Fair July 25 to 30 at the fairgrounds in Tallmadge.
And about the same time, the pigskin will be flying at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival July 28 to 30, with the hot air balloon festival and music festival in Jackson Township. This year’s enshrinees include Kurt Warner, LaDainian Tomlinson and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. (There’s also a football game pitting the Cowboys against the Arizona Cardinals on Aug. 3.)
Harry Potter works his magic on Kent in the second annual Kent Potterfest from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. July 29. Acorn Alley becomes Diagon Alley for the day, filled with costume contests, magic shows, photo booths and wizardy crafts.
August
The first week of August is county fair time for Medina County.
It is also time for double takes at the annual Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg.
This festival is a chance for twins to strut their stuff at a variety of contests and competitions and for the rest of us to gawk. Twins Day runs from Aug. 4 to 6.
The National Hamburger Festival sizzles its way into downtown Akron Aug. 12 and 13.
The event also hosts the Buckeye Brew Fest for those who would like to wash their burger down with a nice cold craft beer.
Akron lays claim to being home to the inventors of the “hamburg” back in 1885 when, as legend goes, two brothers from the city, Frank and Charles Menches, cooked up the first batch of the yummy sandwiches when they ran out of their signature sausage sandwiches at a fair in Hamburg, New York.
Winding down the summer season are three county fairs.
The Portage County Randolph Fair runs Aug. 22 to 27, followed by the Stark County Fair Aug. 29 to Sept. 4 and the Wayne County Fair Sept. 9 to 14.
Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.