I had a bad case of gottagetouttatown week last week and I've always been a bit obsessed with The Blob in all its iterations, but in particular, the 1958 original with Steve McQueen.  I think it goes back to watching all those Saturday morning B sci-fi movies in the World Beyond time block when I was a kid.  So last week, when I was reading The Internet for my umpteenth time and I happened upon a description of the street festival, Blobfest, and then realized that not only was it close enough to drive, it was also coming up the very next weekend, I was all, "Oh we're SO going THERE."

 The KingofHearts just rolled his eyes, much like we did when I insisted we had to attend HonFest, or when I almost drove us off the road trying to get to Foamhenge.

Don't feel too sorry for him.  He may complain about my weird vacation destinations but he almost always enjoys them.  Almost.

 So, as it turns out, The Blob was filmed in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, just a couple of hours from D.C. and the theater from that scene is not only still standing, but still in operation.



Each year, they sponsor a street festival and have special screenings of the film.  The big event of the weekend is the "Run Out," which recreates this scene:



They dress the theater up appropriately.

Or at least semi-appropriately.

 
We weren't able to be there on Friday night for the Run Out, but we did get to attend a screening of the film the next day.  Because bad, old movies are required education in the Underland household.


 We sat in the balcony and got there pretty early so I was able to get this fantastic shot of the projection wall.

Which was featured here in the film:

Now, there's a plaque to commemorate it.

The Colonial theater is really fantastic and still has the old projection room equipment.



Then they let us go upstairs, where they had the resident Blobologist, who knows everything about the movie AND has the dubious distinction of knowing the recipe for making the Actual Blob, which he will not tell you, I tried.

He also knows how they were able to create all those awesome special effects like the one with this actual tiny set used in the film. 



Outside, they had the original fire truck on display.



And the Doctor's house still stands a few blocks up from the theater.  I'm sure the occupants of it just love having lookiloos hanging around on their street corner.



They also have a street festival with appropriately creepy vendors.



A tin foil hat contest,

a costume contest,



and a "Make Your Own Blob" table.
She's telling it, "Now DON'T eat anyone!"

This concludes this photoessay on Blobfest.  Now to put a few dollars in the therapy fund my children will almost certainly have to dip into when they tell this story in Group Therapy one day.  No one will believe them that their mother made them spend an entire weekend celebrating a movie filmed nearly fifty years before their birth, so hopefully blogs will still exist then for the photographic proof.