The Summer Moon Festival takes place in Neil Armstrong’s hometown of Wapakoneta. Events go on downtown as well as at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum.
2023 DATE: July 18-23, 2023
Locations:
Downtown Wapakoneta
Armstrong Air and Space Museum
500 Apollo Dr
Wapakoneta, OH 45895
Website: https://www.facebook.com/wapaksummermoonfest
****
This post documents my experience on July 20, 2013.
Over this weekend, powerful thunderstorms passed through the area and caused problems with many of the festivals that I attended either through delays, destruction or the cancellation of events. Please keep this in mind when reading these reviews, as my experience may not be the most typical.
At the Armstrong Air and Space Museum…
…along with the space ice cream and space suits…
…you can find a wall of Ohio astronauts…
…from Cleveland…
…and even Lorain.
But it’s Neil Armstrong who is celebrated in this town…
…through store names (Moon Florist)…
…newspaper vending machines…
…and a Summer Moon Festival.
During the day…
…the festival’s main location was in downtown Wapakoneta…
…where vendors lined the streets with everything from…
…furniture…
…glass…
…and moon shirts and sculptures…
…these last two things done by Ohio artist Jay Risner.
Accompanying these vendors were a farmer’s market…
…a band playing it up in the entryway…
…a remote control car playground…
…and wood fired pizzas (Cloud Nine)…
…where I tasted orange pizza for the first time (with bitter peels and powdered sugar).
WOW!
One thing to mention is that this section of the festival usually has more than twice the number of vendors.
Unfortunately, only hours before I arrived, a powerful storm came through…
…with a wind that knocked over the tents that lined down both sides of this street…
…so you can imagine how busy it would have been otherwise!
Later in the day…
…the festival found a new location through this entryway…
…and down to this tented area…
…where there was an entertainment stage…
…beer…
…and a nearby food zone…
…with some interesting choices.
Some rides could also be found beyond that.
And for the true space cadets (respectfully)…
…there were Neil Armstrong-esque things to enjoy back at the museum…
…including spacey inflatables…
…concessions…
…rocket launching…
…and an activity tent…
…where kids could check out robots…
…take part in arts and crafts…
…and get put into a duct tape astronaut suit…
…no matter how painful it looked.