Casey Approves $15,000 Popcorn Festival Donation as Carnival Grows

Casey City Council Meeting | July 6, 2026

Article Summary: The Casey City Council approved a $15,000 donation to the Casey Popcorn Festival, whose organizers told the council the event has reached a crossroads after drawing its biggest carnival turnout ever.

Popcorn Festival Key Points:

• The council unanimously approved a $15,000 city donation to this year’s festival.
• Last year’s carnival was the biggest showing in festival history, but organizers said they still had to persuade the carnival company to return because operators prefer week-long events.
• Organizers said admission charges only cover entertainment costs, with sponsorships funding free community offerings.
• The second annual Colonel Royale eating contest returns and will be livestreamed on the festival’s Facebook page.

CASEY — The Casey City Council on Monday, July 6, 2026, unanimously approved a $15,000 donation to the Casey Popcorn Festival after organizers described an event succeeding almost too well for its own footprint.

Festival representatives told the council last year’s carnival “was the biggest showing we’ve had for our carnival ever” — and that they still “had to beg them to come back.” The current operator, referred to as Egyptian Exposition, is the festival’s third carnival company. Organizers said the industry has become difficult, with carnival operators preferring week-long bookings over the festival’s three to three-and-a-half-day run, even as they praised the current company’s rides, cleanliness and cooperation.

“We’re at a crossroads,” one organizer said. “Are we there to keep growing, keep getting people for the carnival, or we do the carnival and, at that point, the festival dies?” Organizers explained the festival charges admission only to cover entertainment costs. “We’re not making money,” one said. “If we can get more money outside from sponsorship, from you guys, that goes into the free stuff. That’s what we can provide for the community.”

Alderman Carlene Richardson moved to approve the $15,000 donation and Alderman Tanner Brown seconded; the roll call passed unanimously.

The festival lineup includes the return of the second annual Colonel Royale, an eating contest that organizers said will again be livestreamed on the festival’s Facebook page after a popular debut in which the defending champion downed roughly 15 cups. Nichols said he plans to attend all three days of the festival — and confirmed he’ll be back in the dunk tank.