In an economic climate where a town festival is the new family trip to Disney World, the annual Tomball Night may have been just the thing local citizens needed.

With dozens of street vendors offering the typical, and sometimes not-so-typical, festival food fare, a myriad of children’s activities and great shopping to lure the adults, organizers are calling this year’s Tomball Night the most successful yet.

Check out the Tribune's photo gallery of images from Tomball Night in the "Photo Gallery" link at the top of the home page.

“I think it just went absolutely wonderful,” Tomball Night Chairperson Mary Harvey said. “It was bigger than ever, there were more vendors, more people. I think it was just great.”

Harvey counted up to 25 or so more street vendors than had originally participated in Tomball’s annual marquee event, along with more Parade of Lights entries.

With the economy currently mired in a slump, families are cutting back on traditional summer vacations and looking for more fun opportunities close to home. Harvey believed that the increase in attendance numbers is probably due to such circumstances.

With a record number of street vendors, it may have been easy to forget that one of Tomball Night’s primary focuses is on great shopping deals across the city.

The dozens of antique and specialty shops in downtown Tomball offered giveaways and special sales not only on Tomball Night, but throughout the weekend as well.

Harvey said that sales at her shop, Granny’s Korner, were down slightly from last year, but she saw an increase in the number of customers.

“The ones (business owners) I talked to said they had a very good night,” Harvey said. “We had a good night. It was a dash smaller than last year, but we did have a good weekend. We asked if they (the customers) were here last night (for Tomball Night) and they said yes.”

What is proving to be one of the more popular attractions for Tomball Night is the Niftee Fiftees car show at Lowe’s on FM 2920. The show is growing to include not only classic cars from the 1950s, but now collectables from the 60s and 70s.

The most popular spot for Tomball Night visitors was the Downtown Depot and Market Street, where live bands played into the night; a petting zoo offered kids the chance to get up close and personal with the animals, and other kids’ activities kept youngsters entertained.

“The children’s activities at the depot went over just great,” Harvey said. “They had fun, they were safe, and close enough to watch the parade and to watch the fireworks.”

This year marked the 37th consecutive year the Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce has put on Tomball Night. Throughout the years, the event has grown to include dozens of participating local businesses, a fireworks show and a Parade of Lights.

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