Streets of downtown Herndon were filled with booths selling jewelry, furniture, crafts, photography and fine art during the 35th Annual Herndon Festival. Photo by Ryan Dunn.
Thursday, May 28 was the first day of the 35th Annual Herndon Festival, a time-honored event for historic downtown Herndon. This year featured many of the same favorite events including carnival rides, music entertainment, and fireworks. The streets of downtown Herndon were filled with booths selling jewelry, furniture, crafts and fine art. The festival ended on Sunday, May 31.
The Herndon Festival Business Expo was held on Saturday and Sunday along historic Pine Street. Over 50 business vendors were available to have conversations and discuss a variety of businesses including home improvement, health and wellness, animal care, education, insurance and more. Herndon Community Television, HCTV, provided live coverage of the festival. “I think the festival is a good way for the community to become stronger,” said Herndon High school sophomore and HCTV volunteer Allie Kassraie.
The festival took place in downtown Herndon, on Lynn Street and surrounding areas. Offsite parking and shuttle buses from Herndon High School and Worldgate was available. Admission to the festival was free, while tickets were required for carnival rides.
There were four entertainment stages with a variety of musical acts each day, including a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, a Simon and Garfunkel tribute band, hip-hop, country, and more. There was a Kids Alley stage with entertainment such as the Unicycle Lady, Monkey Man, mimes and jugglers.
Signe Friedrichs, of the Council for the Arts of Herndon, said, "The children's hands on art area was magnificent this year. Chair Elysa Birman came up with some amazing crafts. Potter's Fire' owner Mike Faul provided the amazing chalk art created by Melody Sarecky, and hundreds of volunteers turned out to make this the best event ever!"
“The festival introduces a lot of people to our business here,” said Herndon resident and Great Harvest Bread employee Walter Little.
Runners participated in the 2015 Herndon Festival 10K and 5K races, held on May 31. Both the 10K and 5K courses were USATF certified. Awards were presented to the top two finishers from each age group from the 10 and under, to 70 and over. Following the race, participants could enjoy refreshments, door prizes, music and an award ceremony. Leaders in the 5K were Andrew Goldman with a time of 00:15:52, and for the 10K Dickson Mercer at 00:34:40.
The outdoor festival created a dynamic experience combining the fun of an outdoor concert series with the thrill of a summertime carnival. Throughout the four-day event, there were two fireworks displays, as well as a Roller Derby demo on Thursday and Wind Art Display on Saturday. Major sponsors for this year’s festival included Volkswagen Group, Dulles Electric, Flagship Carwash and Xfinity.