United Methodist Church stand set up at the Toledo Stoplight Festival. Photo by Cyote Williams

On July 8 the Toledo Stoplight Festival made its long awaited return to the Toledo Courthouse Square.

The courthouse lawn was flooded with residents of both Tama and Toledo alike, sporting smiles and lawn chairs as they sat back and enjoyed the weather and live music.

Live music was performed by Katie & The Honky Tonks as well as My Fellow Americans, each band performed for two out of the four hours that the festival lasted.

Food vendors were lined up all along North Broadway Street. There was everything from burgers, pizza and Indian tacos available for consumption.

Typically Friday night is reserved for the Toledo farmers market, the farmers market was still in attendance and enjoyed a boost in business thanks to the festival.

Opal & Hazel’s wood fired pizza from Vinton, Iowa’s oven in action at the Toledo Stoplight Festival. Photo by Cyote Williams

“It was an amazing night and every vendor did well!” said an excited Cindy Richardson.

Children in attendance were able to enjoy several bounce houses thanks to the fire department and a water fight game that involved using a firehose to push a barrel across a string, like a tug of war.

Two of the main organizers of the event were Toledo Mayor Brian Sokol, and Travis Mullen.

This combo has gotten into a grove when it comes to organizing the event. Mullen handles the entertainment side and food vendors, while Sokol deals with the logistical side of organizing an event like this.

Sokol was in attendance, and was happy with the turnout.

Children playing the tug of war style water game put on by the fire department at the Toledo Stoplight Festival. Photo by Cyote Williams

“It’s nice to have the chance to get the community together, with a nice kid friendly event,” said Sokol.

While the Stoplight Festival does predate Covid-19, Mullen emphasized the importance of gatherings like this one.

After two years of cancellations due to the pandemic, both Sokol and Mullen were happy with the expanded turnout by finally being able to put together a full scale event.

“The reason we created this event was to get people out of their homes and create a greater sense of community,” said Mullen.

“We needed something to build the festival around, and we already had a cool quirky stoplight right here so it was perfect” continued Mullen.

Bubba’s Burnt Ends BBQ from Marshalltown, Iowa serving people at the Toledo Stoplight Festival. Photo by Cyote Williams

Similar to the Lincoln Highway Bridge Festival, Kathy Campbell of Cat Trax was back in Tama to be the sound engineer for the live music, who Mullen showed his appreciation for.

“She has always been our sound engineer, I wanted to send a huge thank you to her,” said Mullen.

After two years of cancellations and delays, it goes without saying that the Stoplight Festival did its job. In an ever changing world there’s nothing that can bring communities together like good food, live music and a great time.

The bounce house provided by the Toledo fire department in the background of the crowd at the Stoplight Festival. Photo by Cyote Williams

Katie and the Honky Tonks out of Waterloo performing their set at the Toledo Stoplight Festival. Photo by Cyote Williams

One of the bounce houses in action that was set up at the Toledo Stoplight Festival. Photo by Michael Davis.