Goddard ‘Back to the Future’ Fall Festival kicks off Friday

GODDARD, Kan. (KSNW) — The Goddard Fall Festival is back this year with the theme “Back to the Future.”

“With so much negativity in the world, it’s great to gather together as a community,” Volunteer Coordinator Tina Mixon said.

The festival brings thousands of people to Goddard each year.

“The Goddard Fall Festival is not only a great community event, it’s a way for us to bring in tourism and economic development to support our local businesses,” Goddard Chamber of Commerce President Angie Duntz said.

There are a lot of events that people can expect.

“We have a fun-filled, family-friendly weekend of activities starting tonight with our ‘Back to the Future’ [Fall Festival]. We’re actually showing the movie in the park,” said Duntz.

Friday will feature the movie in Goddard’s Linear Park, a beer garden, and a 1985 arcade. There will even be bingo at The Goddard Church. Festivities begin at 4 p.m.

Beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, there will be almost 120 vendors lining Main Street, food trucks, yard games, a 1985 arcade, kids games, inflatables, craft vendors, a hot air balloon launch, a corn hole tournament, a car show, local marching bands, and more. The festival will end with country star John Michael Montgomery and fireworks

One of the people making that happen is Tina Mixon. She wears a lot of hats in making sure everything runs smoothly.

“Last year, we had about 11,000 people attend, and this year, we plan on just probably just doubling that,” said Mixon. “On top of that, we have over 200 volunteers. And with an event this size, it’s not something that one or two or even a handful of people can do. It takes the entire community to rally behind it and just find the time to come out and serve your community. Get to serve side by side with your neighbor and just love on the people that you don’t get to see every day.”

Activities will kick off Friday evening, with Saturday being packed full of fun. Click here to see this year’s schedule.