Festival organizer Janelle Jaye, owner of Jaye Enterprises event planning, said she’s a faithful, born and raised Daytonian.
“The aspiration is to make this a new tradition in the city,” Jaye said. “It popped in my head one day and I was like, we don’t have a potato festival in Dayton and a lot of people eat potatoes. Why don’t we have one?”
Last year was supposed to be the city’s first potato festival, but the pandemic pushed those plans back until this year. Despite the delay, Jaye has a positive attitude and feels the festival’s location is ideal for the event to takeoff.
“The reason why I chose Courthouse Square is because it’s literally, centrally located in Dayton,” Jaye said. “It’s not on one far side or another side. It’s in the middle so it actually is truly in the heart of Dayton, where all Daytonians can feel included.”
“Twirly potatoes,” baked potatoes, fried potatoes — festival guests can expect it all. A finalized lineup of vendors and food stands is forthcoming, but Jaye said every food truck and vendor will have at least one staple potato dish in addition to a wider menu.
Some confirmed vendors include Street Potatoes, Mickey’s Salsa Mexican Food and Z’s Lemonade.
There will also be non-food vendors onsite, selling local goods and potato festival merchandise. It’s not a requirement for craft vendors, but Jaye hopes the vendors get into the spirit and incorporate potatoes into their goods being sold at the festival.
People can stay up-to-date with vendor announcements and more on the festival’s event information page on Facebook.
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