The popcorn stand next to the Spring Street entrance to Scidmore Park is open and serving after a group of volunteers spent several weeks repairing, restoring, and repainting it. The work began in early-mid June when volunteers from Three Rivers Improvement Movement (TRiM) met to discuss the work needed to get the popcorn stand spruced up.
TRiM members Mike Curtis and Lisa DeVine were joined in planning and carrying out the work by Kelsey Block Brewing Company Owner Jerry Barkley and his wife Kristy. “Jerry talked to us last year about doing it and helping him out, so we just said we would, and it ended up being a paint job, took it apart, patched it up a little bit,” Curtis said. “You know, we edged the lawn and did some yard work around there, a little garden, and just made it look nice.”
The group worked on the stand over roughly the past six weeks. “Mike and Jerry did the initial dismantling of parts,” DeVine said. “They took the awning off and they took off some rotten boards and things like that, and trim, and there was a gutter they took off. They just kind of streamlined it and repaired, patched holes and put new siding up, and then we primed and painted it.”
“The service window needed to be replaced, and I ended up just making that myself,” Barkley said. “Kristy and I had an air conditioner in our house and we hadn’t used it in a few years, so we just donated it to upgrade the air conditioner, since the old one was barely working.”
DeVine said there was other work, too. “We made a new sales shelf and a little chalk board for the front,” she said. “There was an already a little garden bed cut in on one side, but we just widened it a little bit and put some flowers in there.”
“The new awning should be arriving soon, I hope,” DeVine said. “Jerry’s taking care of that. They’re just replacing the one that was there, and we’re raising it up a little bit. I had to duck to get under it, so it was really short,” DeVine said. Mark Bidelman of Sun and Shade Awnings is creating the new canvas for the awning.”
DeVine, who has an arts background, put her skills and training to use on the stand’s classic sign. “I took the sign home and restored it, you know, using the original design,” she said. Barkley said, “Lisa did a beautiful job with the sign, and the painting is typical Mike and Lisa quality.”
Overall, Barkley and Curtis said, the project went more smoothly than they expected. “We replaced some of the siding, but the other stuff really wasn’t as bad as we thought. There was a fair amount of detail work patching the roof, and that looks like it’s doing what it’s supposed to now.”
Kristy Barkley helps operate the stand, and the work was planned around getting it open for the season. She works for St. Joseph County Community Mental Health Agency (CMH). The stand is a job skills development site for CMH clients, and the popcorn stand serves as a place to train them in various employment skills as they serve the public.
“This is our third summer, and we opened late not necessarily because of the renovations, but just for COVID precautions, so I think we’ve been open three weeks,” Kristy said. “I employ developmentally disabled adults. They’re popping the popcorn and learning about customer service. This year I have a guy who’s in charge of inventory, so he has to come ask what we need, and then he goes shopping with a job coach and brings back our purchases.”
Open hours are typically on afternoons on the weekend and some weekdays. “We’re open 17 hours a week, and this weekend we’re going to pop popcorn and see how we do selling it at the Huss Farmers’ Market,” Kristy said. In addition to popcorn, the stand also sells water, pop, popsicles, and ice cream sandwiches. “They have magnets they’re selling, too, the popcorn magnets. They’re really cute. Someone’s making them for the popcorn stand, donated them,” she said.
The popcorn stand has been open this summer for about three weeks. “The park has had a lot of traffic during this time,” Jerry Barkley said. “Their sales have been the best they’ve ever had since Kristy started operating it. So, they’re already having a good year, and the attractiveness of the remodel is certainly helping the cause.”
Kristy said in the last two weeks, the stand has seen about a third more sales than usual. She speculated on the reasons for this year’s success. “The park is busier, because I think people are just wanting to get out. We’ve already had a really good three weeks.”
In addition to support from CMH, TRiM, and Kelsey Block Brewing, as well as Curtis, DeVine, and the Barkleys’ individual contributions of money, supplies and work, others have also provided donations of supplies and funds. Kristy Barkley posted a sign in the stand’s window recognizing Laura and Brad withers, Meijer, Walmart, and the Three Rivers Lions Club for their contributions to the project.
Kristy said city staff, including City Manager Joe Bippus and Department Public Services (DPS) Director Amy Roth, have also been helpful. Barkley and Curtis estimated DPS spent between $200 and $300 on paint and wood. “I hope Amy and Joe have been able to go down there and look at it too,” Kristy said.
The popcorn stand is a longtime landmark in Three Rivers. It originally stood at the corner of West Michigan Avenue and North Main Street, and moved around to a few other locations, including a spot on South Main Street below Broadway Street, before the City of Three Rivers acquired it in the 1980s and moved it to its current location. A variety of other organizations have operated it over the years since.
Kristy is pleased with how the work has turned out. “It looks beautiful. I’m just so excited,” she said. After DeVine posted photos to the TRIM Facebook page, others commented on their excitement as well. The stand comes up fairly regularly on other Three Rivers-oriented affinity pages, and is well-known among longtime residents. “It’s just really been cool how the community has gotten involved,” Kristy said. “An older gentleman gave us an extra $5 because he thinks it’s cool and wants it to continue. People walk by and they share their memories of when it was downtown. That’s the coolest part.”
Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.
Gallery: (Lisa DeVine|Watershed Voice)
