CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio — A giant popcorn ball is hard to miss when driving by or walking into the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop.
“As you can see, as everybody’s walking by, everybody is smiling and they see this popcorn ball and it [is] just a community activity that brings everybody together,” said Chagrin Falls Township Trustee Tom Florkiewicz.
Florkiewicz said the ball is nicknamed Jupiter and weighs more than 250 pounds.
“The volume of this ball is so big that it can fit the volume of 13,422 3-inch popcorn balls inside,” he said.
While it is a sight to see, it has a backstory.
“Well, it was my wife’s idea because she was at the documentary film festival and she saw this film where they drop a live possum on New Year’s Eve,” he said. “She said, ‘Well, if they can drop, drop a live possum, why can’t we do something?’ So, she went to Dewey Forward, the owner of the popcorn shop, and said, Dewey, ‘We’ve got to drop a popcorn ball on New Year’s Eve.’ So that’s what started that tradition, which has now been here for nine years.”
Florkiewicz said the construction of this treat took months to finish.
“The inner core is made out of wood for structure and then the circumference is made out of Styrofoam,” he said. “That took about three months for Rob Schwinn to put together in his garage. It’s actually in two halves, so the two halves will come together along the village flagpole and go up the flagpole and then back down, like, just like Times Square on New Year’s Eve.”
However, the ball would not be complete without its signature ingredient.
“We have a hot kettle; we are going to put some oil into it. And to that hot oil, we’re going to add some kernels and some salt,” she said. “Now, once the oil heats up to a certain temperature, the kernels inside heat up with it and inside of each kernel is a tiny microscopic amount of water which causes it to burst, which is the pop of the popcorn that we all know and love. But once it pops out of here, we pop a whole bunch at once and then we pull it out of there.”
General manager Rachael Raymond said the popcorn is prepared with care.
“We take that popcorn and we stuck it to the outside of the ball. In years past, we’ve taken the popcorn and dumped it into a mold in order to,” she said. “It just took piles and piles and piles of popcorn in order to make that popcorn ball.”
She said this year’s ball was prepped at an offsite kitchen.
“We have an air popper, which is great because we just dump the kernels and let it go, do its thing,” she said. “But that easily took a few days’ worth of popping popcorn all day every day in order to make enough popcorn to cover the popcorn bowl.”
Florkiewicz said the ball unites the community and welcomes in a new year.
“It gives them something to do on New Year’s Eve, rather than having to travel to New York City or downtown Cleveland to enjoy New Year’s Eve,” he said.
He said the New Year’s Eve program will start around 11:30 p.m. near the Chagrin Falls Village flagpole. Once the ball drops, he said 200 popcorn balls will shoot into the crowd from bazooka-like popcorn ball guns, confetti will launch and the village cannon will be shot.
