This year marks the 125th anniversary of a Prophetstown woman’s popcorn prophecy, and her kind of corn has become an attraction to this Whiteside County town – now from a stand outside the town’s grocery store.

Thicksten’s Popcorn is more than just a business that sells plain and lightly salted popcorn, its unique and simple setup provides plenty of freshness. The old, red-painted trailer, which once was white for many years, echoes inside with the popping of popcorn that customers can hear from the sales window. You’d think it was out of place, like it should be at a carnival or something, but it’s become part of Prophetstown lore.

It was in 1900 when Ava Lawrence popped her first popcorn, and it was liked enough over the years to grow into a business, now owned by Lawrence’s great-grand granddaughter Joanie Stewart. The Thicksten name is part of the family lineage. This year is a quasquicentennial – enough letters to runneth over like fresh popcorn out of a popper.

Popcorn is available in small bags for less than a dollar, and as large as two-foot tall, one-foot wide cylindrical plastic bags. My usual Thicksten’s takeaway (most recently done on June 26) is one or two of its long plastic tubes, about three of which make up that really large bags; there is a neat graphic on the bags which reads “A heap of popcorn.” Ask for “two heaps” and see what kind of reaction you get.

The stand is only open on evenings during months when the weather’s nice, peaking in mid-summer when the town’s annual Fourth of July celebration attracts thousands of people to town for activities and fireworks.

Food trucks have been quite the craze in recent years. Everyone who wants to spread their own tastes of food to the public are doing so through these trucks and trailers all over parking lots and special events. There are even events that are specifically for food trucks in some communities. Although Thicksten’s trailer is in a more permanent spot, it’s been a place where popcorn has been popped for 75 years – same trailer! Some enhancements have been made over the years, but the tradition remains intact.

In 2022, I wrote a story about Thicksten’s for Sauk Valley Media’s Small Town Living magazine. To learn much more about the stand and the family story, go to the link below to read an online version of the magazine and story:
https://issuu.com/shawmedia/docs/svm_stlw_081522/6

Thicksten’s Popcorn
Stand location: 214 Washington St, Prophetstown IL
Find it on Facebook for more information.