BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Major construction in downtown Bowling Green is forcing the Firefly Nights Festival to go to a new location.
The festival will keep its schedule Friday with additional features for the enjoyment and safety of visitors as construction progresses downtown.
"It's pretty annoying, I won't lie," Jim Tramtevski, a Bowling Green resident, said.
"It took me a half hour to get around town to go to Home Depot to get supplies,” said Justin Donaldson, who works in Bowling Green. "Just because my truck is getting beat up by all this construction."
Orange cones, torn up pavement and no parking are just a few of the frustrations people in Bowling Green are dealing with as crews work to repair their water, sewer and gas lines. Meanwhile other crews work to repave downtown roads.
"It's just been a nightmare for people," Robert Beimdieck, who lives and works in Bowling Green, said.
Ace Hardware employees said they've been fortunate to have customers use the back of the business, but have seen fewer people in the store since the project started.
"We don't get very much walk in traffic cause there's no parking out front," Beimdieck said.
Organizers of the festival in it’s second year just made the call to move locations for July and August as construction continues leaving Main Street unsafe. The Festival's second event is set for this Friday.
"We're moving on over to Church Street utilizing North and South Church, but also getting to utilize Wooster Green," said Kati Thompson, CEO of Firefly Nights and owner of Eden Fashion Boutique.
"We wanted to do it, we felt like it was going to be possible, so we brought everybody over here to Church," added Laura Wicks, another CEO of the Firefly Nights and co-owner of Grounds for Thought.
Despite moving the festival days, organizers said they have plans to make it special and still have you head into some of the local businesses on Main Street.
"We'll have a list of all the specials that the merchants are offering, we invite people to definitely go take part in those and also, for this time we planned a really fun scavenger hunt that people can participate in,” Thompson said.
While the festival has been relocated for this month and next, city officials said no plans have been changed for the Black Swamp Festival in September, but they are discussing the options with event organizers. They said construction should be complete at the end of October.
Firefly Nights leaders said they are doing their best to accommodate and adjust as construction persists. They said the festival had to continue to bring fun, food and entertainment to the community and they hope people will still venture out and explore what they have to offer.
"You know this is temporary,” said Gayle Walterbach, Firefly Nights coordinator and owner of Coyote Beads and Jewelry. “We are looking forward to having our downtown back and being construction zone free.”
Firefly nights will begin on Church Street at 6 p.m. Friday and go until 10 p.m. For more information you can go to their website.