On tap for Apollo May Daze: Yard sale crawl, historical sites, flea market, food trucks

After ballooning costs and lack of attendance killed Apollo’s Moon Landing festival some years ago, residents have rallied to present the first Apollo May Daze featuring a yard sale crawl, self-guided history tours, kids activities, food trucks, flea market and more this weekend.

Events and sights will be spread out over the town. The Apollo Plaza, along First Street, will be the staging area of vendors, crafts and the flea market.

The event was created to kick off the season for the borough’s successful Wheel Good Wednesdays on May 5 featuring a confab of food trucks parked at the old Stanford lot on Clifford Avenue from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays through the summer.

“If there is a silver lining to the covid-19 pandemic, it would be the success of Wheel Good Wednesdays,” said Apollo Councilwoman Jen Mullins, who coordinated the food truck gathering last year and other events.

Mullins and residents founded a community group called Apollo Events Committee, which hatched May Daze.

“What started as ‘Let’s have yard sales and let’s have vendors’ now includes businesses, churches and others,” she said. “The idea has grown in the last two months into the most inclusive, townwide event that we’ve had in years.

“This was a flourishing town with lots of events, and I’ve watched it go downhill. But we are putting Apollo on the map again.”

The Apollo Area Historical Society also has been working on events to create buzz and public appreciation for its work preserving the town’s history.

For May Daze, the society’s vice president, Sue Ott, developed a Google-­based map displaying the sites of 24 yard sales with an overlay providing a self-guided history tour.

That map features 13 stops at the town’s historical sites such as millionaire row, a bank of Terrace Avenue homes that belonged to General Samuel Jackson, journalist Nellie Bly’s family and others.

Hard copies of the maps and Apollo May Daze will be available during the festivities at the Apollo Area Historical Society’s museum in the W.C.T.U. building, 317 N. Second St.

The Google map also features information about other events at Owen’s Grove for May Daze, including a “Kidz Zone” with a bounce house, a climbing wall and more.

The Apollo Assembly of God will present an interfaith service from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Owens Grove’s gazebo. Apollo Library will offer up a book sale and more. Other area churches are sponsoring events, too.

The Apollo-Ridge Education Foundation will kick off its stormwater drain project and interactive exhibits at Owens Grove.

Ott, one of the organizers for the festivities this weekend, said she is psyched.

“We are so excited people are responding.”

Shining a spotlight on the town’s history is exciting as well, she said.

“People aren’t aware of all the history Apollo has. With the walking tour map, people will get to see some of the historical sites.”

Mullins is pleased the committee created an event where they didn’t have to spend money to pull it off.

“Community groups and others have stepped up and told us they wanted to be part of it.”