Ox Cart Days summer festival in Crookston has gained national attention from Hershey’s in Pennsylvania following the announcement of their upcoming Community S’mores event and custom fire tables built by high school students in Travis Oliver’s Industrial Technology classes. Hershey’s reached out to Oliver after seeing the story in the Crookston Times and said the tables project was a “great assignment for the kids” and thought it was a “perfect event for the festival.”
Subsequent conversations were had with the festival committee and Hershey’s confirmed they’ll be coming to Crookston with a camera crew to do a story and cover the s’mores event. They’re also planning to bring Hershey’s chocolate.
The idea for the event and fire tables came from a festival planning meeting where committee member Libby Boucher mentioned a 2019 Hershey’s s’mores commercial in which the famous chocolate company wanted to lend a hand in helping neighbors get to know each other better so they arrived with fire tables and fire pits for people to make s’mores together. Boucher hoped to recreate the commercial with festival guests and the committee pitched the fire tables idea to Oliver. He and his students then designed and created the one-of-a-kind tables with maintenance-free tops, stainless fire troughs, custom controls, welded frame, and propane tank housing.
The Community S’mores event is slated for Friday, August 20 starting at 5 p.m. on Ash Street near the Downtown Square. Participants will be able to roast marshmallows on the custom-built fire tables and pair it with Hershey’s chocolate and graham crackers to make s’mores with family, friends, and neighbors.
More information about the event and the festival can be found at www.crookstonoxcartdays.com
