Van Buren recently celebrated its fourth annual Fall Festival, also known as Pop’s Fall Festival.
The fall festival event was started in 2018 by Don Black II and Rickie Maples, who said they wanted to draw the public into Pop’s ‘Tiques and Fleas Antique Flea Market in Van Buren.
Pop’s is own by Donald Black, who loved the public and would always sit and socialize everyday with them, according to the men.
Don, the son of Donald Black, and his girlfriend, Rickie, who has designed events in the past, decided to have an arts and crafts fair at the flea market.
The first year they had 20 vendors and a few hundred people came out to the fair.
Each year after, the event has doubled, organizers said.
This year, there were 120 vendors and thousands of people joining the celebration.
Don and Rickie said they knew they had to find a proper location to house the large crowd, so they partnered with Tom and Della Bedell, owners of The Landing, who were more than happy to have the festival right at river front.
“We brought out a lot more activities this year for the public to experience, including a bouncy castle for the kids, a graffiti wall, a blacksmith and pottery firing,” stated Rickie.
“We try to refine the event each year by the public’s feedback,” said Don, “and we’re excited to see what next year brings.”