Cassie’s Popcorn celebrates 100 years of hot fresh flavor in downtown Sycamore

In the past century, Sycamore’s downtown has undergone a constant stream of changes.

Cars replaced horses and buggies. Electricity lit up storefronts, restaurants and homes. Technological advancements have constantly enabled new forms of commerce and recreation. And through it all, the community around it has only continued to grow and prosper.

But through all of the changes, some things have remained the same. Notably among them, a little red popcorn stand at the corner of State and Maple streets.

“I can’t even imagine Sycamore without this place,” said Cassie Oltman, the current owner and operator of the stand.

“It’s just such an important part of the community. I mean, it’s really special when we go places and hear people talking about this little town with a popcorn stand, and it turns out they’re talking about us,” she said with a chuckle.

While the stand is now known as Cassie’s Popcorn, its place in the community dates back more than 100 years.

According to historical narratives assembled by Oltman, the popcorn stand began 128 years ago when it was a popcorn wagon operated by James Elliott.

Then known as the “popcorn and confectionary stand,” the red and yellow wagon was reportedly wheeled each day by a gray horse from a nearby livery barn to the corner of State and Maple.

According to the historical narrative, Elliott operated the wagon until 1921 when he moved away. The wagon was acquired by a collection of local business partners, including Edward Lobaugh. The wagon’s wheels were removed and the wagon became a true concession stand, permanently ensconced at the corner in 1923, where it was supplied with electricity and gas.

It opened the following year and the Lobaugh family operated the stand until 1943. In the ensuing decades, the stand was purchased and operated first by Gertrude and Irving Fothergill and then by Cecile Blake Kartchner.

In the early 1980s, Jody Mattison became Kartchner’s business partner and worked at the stand, until buying the stand outright in 1983.

Mattison’s family has operated the stand ever since, as her daughter, Oltman, popped in to run the stand in 2010, which she continues to do.

“It’s a stable, staple part of this community,” Oltman said. “And it’s so much fun to keep this going year after year.”

Today, Cassie’s Popcorn continues to pop up the fun and the community continues to pop out to support the historical business.

The stand offers a palette of flavors, including traditional favorites like caramel corn, cheese popcorn, kettle corn and white cheddar. Cassie’s also regularly offers flavors like cotton candy and the popular “Sycamore-style” mix, in which Oltman melts caramel over cheese flavored popcorn.

“It’s one of our most popular,” Oltman said. “People just love it. But you will need a napkin.”

The stand also regularly offers popcorn balls in a range of flavors, including Oreo, Snickers, cherry and strawberry, among others.

And periodically, Cassie’s will offer special flavors seasonally. In the fall, for instance, the stand will sell Oltman’s take on caramel apple and pumpkin spice, which includes a white chocolate drizzle over pumpkin flavored popcorn.

Some of Oltman’s favorites to make, she said, are her take on Cracker Jack - which she called “Cassie’s Jack” - featuring a blend of caramel corn and peanuts, and the “Monster Flavor,” which she sells around Pumpkin Fest and includes popcorn with melted chocolate, eyeball-shaped candies and other spooky, Halloween-themed ingredients that change year to year.

“The kids love it,” Oltman said. “It’s so much fun.”

Oltman said her favorite flavor, however, is the stand’s fresh popped white corn, blended with salt and a bit of parmesan cheese.

“That’s my dinner on nights when I’m up working at the stand,” she said. “It’s just delicious.”

As ever, the business remains roughly seasonal, Oltman said. Depending on weather, the stand opens in late April and will remain open through the summer until Pumpkin Fest at the end of October.

Oltman said she then opens the stand periodically until Christmas, to satisfy the demand for popcorn as gifts.

“And people do love giving our popcorn as gifts,” she said.

Oltman said she aims to open the stand Monday-Friday, 4 to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. However, sometimes she will also close the stand to attend to family responsibilities and family functions.

But she said regulars know to check the popcorn stand’s Facebook page to learn whether the stand will be open or closed on a particular day.

Oltman pops the white popcorn fresh each day at the stand. All other flavors and styles are prepared and bagged in advance in her popcorn prep building at her home on Somonauk Street. And all of the flavors come from “real” ingredients, including actual butter, blended together with the popcorn with a “big wooden spoon.”

Oltman and her family celebrated the 100th anniversary of the popcorn stand on July 25 by hosting a special event at the stand with balloons, fake tattoos and - of course - fresh popcorn.

But any day at the popcorn stand can quickly turn into a mini celebration and a trip down memory lane, Oltman said.

While many regular customers stop by the stand for a bag of popcorn for movie night, a party or just a snack, Oltman said she regularly meets people who have moved away and come back to live in the community again or visit.

“And they stop by the stand and tell me how happy they are this place is still here,” she said. “It just helps them feel like they’re home.”

After nearly 15 years in the popcorn stand business, Oltman said she has no plans to hang up the big wooden spoon anytime soon. But when she does, she hopes to hand it down to the next generation, among her three daughters and 13 grandchildren, and counting.

“It’s been here 100 years,” she said. “And I’d love nothing more than for it to keep going.”