Suburban Fun: Beware of the Blob Edition

We're going to make this week's Suburban Fun column quick and to the point. This weekend is The Blobfest at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville.

The annual event celebrates the filming of The Blob right here in Chester County. (True story: We didn't know this until we made a joke about the diner looking just like the Downingtown Diner and our friends looked at us like we had sprouted a second head, Zaphod Beeblebrox-style. Occasionally, we are not smart.) This year is special - BlobFest is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the filming, and hosting a cast, crew and extras reunion in addition to all of the other festivities.

The celebration kicks off tonight at 7 PM, with a Tinfoil Hat Competition (entries must be wearable and must be made out of tinfoil), music from The Rivers Rockabilly Trio, a Scream Contest (seriously) and a re-enactment of the famous running-out-of-the-theatre scene (originally filmed at the Colonial itself). Believe us when we tell you that the annual run-out is absolutely hilarious.

The events continue on Saturday with a street fair and classic car show. The winner of the scream contest (yes, seriously) will scream-off the Firefighter's Parade, while at 12:15 the Costume Contest kicks off. (In past years, folks have dressed up as The Blob, The Colonial Theatre itself, and the moon landing capsule.) Costumes must be homemade - bonus points for kooky and fun. At 1 PM, the Cast and Crew Discussion Panel begins with producer Jack Harris, screenwriter Kate Phillips and crewmember/slater/runner Howard Fishlove.

There are three showings of the movie on Saturday - afternoon shows at 2 PM and 5 PM (sandwiched around a 3:30 PM screening of The Angry Red Planet). At 6:30, they'll take a break from the movies to screen the winners of the 'Backyard B-Movie' contest in which local filmmakers filmed their own five minute-long B-movie.

Finally, at 8 PM, the Late Night Creature Feature kicks off. They'll show The Blob first, then Warning From Space and a third mystery creature feature.

On hand the whole weekend will be a display of the last remaining bit of the original Blob, as well as several other props from 1950s-era B-movies (last year, we saw the spaceship from Plan 9 from Outer Space), as well as props, posters and vendors with all kinds of goods for sale.

Tickets for the afternoon screenings on Saturday are available for $7 for adults, $6 for students and seniors, and $4 for children. You'll have to purchase tickets for the Late Night Creature Feature separately, but the pricing is the same.

For more information, call the theatre at (610)-917-0223.

If you feel like hanging out in Chester County throughout the weekend, the 25th Annual Turk's Head Music Festival takes place on Sunday in West Chester. They've got funk. They've got 'cello-driven acoustic rock.' They've got blues. They've got power pop. They've got good, old-fashioned rock and roll. For more information, check out the setlist times at the link, or call the Borough at (610) 692-7574.

As always, if you have an event in suburbia you'd like us to highlight, or you think there's something coming up that we should know about, let us know. We're always looking for fun in suburbia.

Remember...Beware of The Blob, it creeps and leaps and slides and glides across the floor... (Burt Bacharach wrote the theme song for The Blob. Yes. That Burt Bacharach. Consider that your fun fact for the day.)