Put on your running shoes! Blobfest returns to Phoenixville, with its annual ‘run out’ and other Blobby traditions

One can debate whether The Blob is a Philadelphia movie, but it’s undoubtedly a Chester County movie.

The 1958 schlock sci-fi classic, which stars Steve McQueen in his big role, was filmed in Phoenixville, Downingtown, Chester Springs, and other parts of Chester County.

Most memorably, Phoenixville’s Colonial Theatre is featured in the film, in a scene where a huge crowd runs out of the theater to escape the titular blob.

Since 1999, that scene has been reenacted as part of the annual Blobfest, at the theater where it was filmed.

That year, just over 40 years after the film’s release and shortly after the theater, built in 1903, reopened following a restoration, the Colonial celebrated the very first Blobfest.

Then as now, it’s an event meant to celebrate all things Blob, featuring a showing of the 1958 film and participation in the famous run-out scene.

And some fans of the film, and fest, come yearly. The 2023 edition of the fest runs July 14-16.

“I’ve been going to Blobfest since about 2003 or 2004,” Rich Drees, a film critic and enthusiast who lives in the Wilkes-Barre area, told The Inquirer.

“First, there’s such a fun vibe to the event,” Drees said. “For the most part, people who come genuinely love the movie. There’s no ironic ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ attitude about it.”

The event has changed and expanded over the years, from a single day to an entire weekend. After being held virtually during the pandemic, Blobfest returned live in 2022.

Kris Yeaworth, the son of The Blob director Irvin “Shorty” Yeaworth, was a mainstay at Blobfests before he died last year.

“Blobfest has now been around for 24 years,” said Drew Boardman, events and engagement manager for both the Colonial Theatre and Blobfest. “It just started as a way to … commemorate our claim to fame, and bring a fun festival to downtown Phoenixville.”

Boardman said some folks credit the Colonial and Blobfest for ushering in “the renaissance that Phoenixville is currently experiencing.”

The theater expanded in 2017, with additional auditoriums added in the former bank building next door, but the Colonial’s marquee looks much the same as it appeared in The Blob in 1958.

There will be all the usual Blobfest events, plus something new: MST3Kon, featuring some people who know a thing or two about schlock movies — the crew from the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, which celebrates and mocks B-movies.

Friday events get underway at 7:30 p.m., with a live stage show, and the run out reenactment. That will be followed by the Blob Ball, in the form of a “1950s rock ‘n’ roll dance party” at LuLu Boutique & Gifterie, inside the Colonial Theatre.

The showings of the original The Blob are set for 11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; the 1988 remake will be shown at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

But it’s not all Blob; other horror classics have long been a part of Blobfest.

Saturday will also see a triple feature of The Wolf Man at 1:30 p.m., The Bride of Frankenstein at 3, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein at 4:30.

“As a film nerd, I am always interested in learning about the film history of Pennsylvania, and the folks at the Colonial have been great about presenting that every year,” Drees said.

Saturday also includes a street fair from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., including a costume contest at 1.

“Every year … we just try to expand it year over year. We’ve consistently raised the amount of vendors who have been here for our street festival on Saturday,” Boardman said.

Sunday is MST3Kon, which will feature the movies The Batwoman, Demon Squad, and Munchie with commentary from the crew.

There will also be the traditional Blob-themed 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and kids fun run.

Self-guided driving tours of The Blob locations in Chester County, as well tours through the locations of non-Blob movies like The Lovely Bones and multiple films by M. Night Shyamalan, are on offer.

Boardman expects 600 people for the Friday night stage show, and as many as 5,000 people at the street fair.

The 2023 Blobfest weekend in Phoenixville in July 14-16. For information and to purchase tickets: thecolonialtheatre.com/blobfest.