# Small town festivals **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 29, 2019, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793 "2019-07-29T03:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/1 "2019-07-29T03:53:13Z")
The horrible news of a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival today got me thinking about small town festivals in general. What are some other notable little slices of Americana you’ve been to? Collinsville IL produces a lot of the world’s horseradish, and so they have the International Horseradish Festival every June. I went last year. It was enjoyable and quirky, if a bit smaller than I’d envisioned. I’d heard that they had a horseradish eating competition, but I don’t see that on their site, so maybe that’s a thing of the past, or maybe I was misinformed. In any case, I love horseradish, and the idea of having a two-day celebration of it is just awesome. I got some lovely condiments when I went there.[https://www.internationalhorseradishfestival.com/index.php/en/](https://www.internationalhorseradishfestival.com/index.php/en/) Back in 2007 or so, my wife and I happened to be in Sugarcreek OH on the weekend of the Swiss Festival. The best part was the Steintossen event, in which competitors see who can hurl a 138 pound stone the farthest (75 pounds in the women’s division). It was _crazy_. All these strapping young farmers take turns lifting a massive stone over their heads, running toward the pit, and launching the stone about 14 feet. I wouldn’t be able to even lift the stone, much less propel it anywhere near 14 feet. I was in awe. [The Ohio Swiss Festival](http://www.ohioswissfestival.com/index.html) What cool small town festivals have you been to? ETA: damn typo in the title. I’ll ask a moderator to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/2 "2019-07-29T03:58:07Z")
There’s the [Calaveras County Frog Jumping Contest](https://www.gocalaveras.com/travel-directory/calaveras-county-fair-jumping-frog-jubilee/) that we used to go to when I was a kid. Mark Twain went to it, too, but that was before my time. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/3 "2019-07-29T04:09:09Z")
Strawberry festival in Cabot Arkansas. Locally grown and they have so much flavor. 😉 We go almost every year. They have live music and lots of vendors selling strawberries. Cabot is only a 30 min drive from my home. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/4 "2019-07-29T04:21:57Z")
When I lived in Bozeman, MT, I never missed the Sweet Pea Arts Festival (it’s probably next weekend, this year). The story goes that there used to be a cannery in town that employed a lot of people, and their biggest product was canned peas, so when pea season was done, they threw a big Pea Festival. And then, after the cannery closed, people wanted to keep having the festival, so they re-themed it to sweet peas. Anyway, about ten bucks will get you unlimited admittance to the festival for all three days, and there are five stages set up at various places in the park, with all sorts of performing arts (music, theater, improv comedy, storytelling, dance, etc.). There’s also a craft show, children’s activities, and (since it’s named after them and all) a sweet pea flower show where attendees can judge the arrangements. Food is provided by various local groups setting up stalls as a fundraiser. Oh, and it starts with a parade, which about a third of the town marches in in some capacity or another, and for the week prior, folks are encouraged to cover the sidewalks leading there with chalk art. Another one I’ve heard of but never seen, but would sort of like to, is the Neutrino Festival in Homestake, SD. Most of the residents of the town have no idea what a neutrino is… but they know that the scientists studying them in the old, played-out mine have revitalized an economy that was just barely this side of being a ghost town. And so, naturally, they throw a festival. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/5 "2019-07-29T04:31:17Z")
Chile Festival in Hatch, NM [http://www.hatchchilefest.com/](http://www.hatchchilefest.com/) Harvest Wine Festival in Las Cruces, NM > **[Home - New Mexico Wine](https://nmwine.com/)** > > Welcome to New Mexico wine country and the beginning of an incredible journey. Explore Americas most unique and independent winemaking region in the heart of the Southwest. White Sands Hot Air Balloon Invitational, in Alamogordo, NM > **[Alamogordo Center of Commerce](https://www.alamogordo.com/)** > > The Alamogordo Center of Commerce is a private, non-profit, membership-driven organization comprised of more than 500 businesses, civic organizations, education institutions, and individuals. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/6 "2019-07-29T04:38:41Z")
The Lambertville Shad Festival celebrates all things Shad when the smelly greasy little buggers swim up the Delaware to spawn. It’s evolved into an arts and food festival. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/7 "2019-07-29T04:40:30Z")
Ohio has more festivals then any other state according to an old friend who was on the state festival committee. Only a few miles from me is our own frog jumping contest in Valley City. Milan, Ohio has the melon festival and for awhile in the 1960s and early 70s they had an automotive hill climb. But unlike any other hill climb I know of, when you got to the top of the hill and drove around the town square, you raced back down the hill to a screeching halt just before the drop off into the river. Real cheek clencher, that. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/8 "2019-07-29T04:58:40Z")
[The Waikiki Spam Jam](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=825048&highlight=spam) ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/9 "2019-07-29T14:20:47Z")
The little town that I live in (Viburnum, Missouri) has the Old Miners Days festival every year. Ostensibly, it’s a salute to the lead-mining industry, by which this town lives and dies. In reality, it more of an excuse for performances by the high school jazz band and local church choirs; local vendors selling their wares; that sort of thing. The town gets all excited about it every year, but in reality it’s much ado about not a lot. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/10 "2019-07-29T14:30:14Z")
[Festival in the Clouds.](https://crazyaboutcolorado.com/festival-in-the-clouds/) Alma Colorado. Alma’s the highest incorporated town in the US. My Wife and I live up the pass from it about 5 miles. Lots of fun, we try to go every year. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/11 "2019-07-29T14:41:15Z")
The Sun Prairie, Wisconsin corn festival. Years ago, before it got ginormous and moved, the World’s Biggest Brat Fest in Madison, Wisconsin. The Tucson Festival of Books. Not exactly a small town but it’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/12 "2019-07-29T14:48:33Z")
I went to [The Great Texas Mosquito Festival](https://www.mosquitofestival.com/events) in Clute a few years ago. Ditto the [Texas Gatorfest](https://www.texasgatorfest.com/) in Anahuac. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/13 "2019-07-29T14:51:29Z")
Two of my favorites are Kielbasa-Fest in Plymouth PA and the Sauerkraut Festival in Henderson Minnesota And of course Buzzard Day in Hinkley Ohio And of course the Square Fair in Lima Ohio [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ygca-qsLWeo/maxresdefault.jpg "29 YEARS OF SQUARE FAIR - LIMA OHIO -") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygca-qsLWeo) who actually get some major acts Actually I probably attend more small community fairs than I should; at least 4-10 a year and usually at least 3 totally new-to-me. It is wild the reaction you get sometimes from some place like the Tipton (IN) Pork Festival when they find out you drove 350 miles to join them in their event. Most of these look at drawing from the town and maybe county; region in their wildest dreams. When you show up from far away it really makes their day. “You’re from Thorntown?” Nope. “You have family in Thorntown?” Nope. “Then why are you here?” Just heard about the Festival of the Turning Leaves and it sounded like fun! “It did?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/14 "2019-07-29T14:58:43Z")
[Tip-Up Town USA](http://www.visithoughtonlake.com/festivals.shtml?hc_location=ufi), an annual ice-fishing festival in Houghton Lake, MI. We used to go every year when I was a kid. The entry ticket was a big, round button pin, and I think I still have all of my old buttons in a box somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/15 "2019-07-29T15:12:15Z")
I had arrived on Maui just in time for the Maui Onion Festival. Their onions don’t grow anywhere else, and are so mild you can eat them like apples. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/16 "2019-07-29T15:49:50Z")
Stockton probably doesn’t qualify as a “small town”, but like Gilroy it’s situated in the middle of a major agricultural region in California. Every year they host the [San Joaquin Asparagus Festival](http://www.sanjoaquinasparagusfestival.net/), formerly known as the Stockton Asparagus Festival. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/17 "2019-07-29T15:59:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Their onions don’t grow anywhere else, and are so mild you can eat them like apples. You can do that with any onion, if you’re brave enough 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/18 "2019-07-29T16:05:00Z")
Oddly enough I’ve been to the Gilroy and Sugarcreek festivals, too. But not the Buzzard Fest. Twinsburg, Ohio has the [Twins Days](https://twinsdays.org/) festival. It’s in the next town over but I’ve only been there once in 40 years. It’s next weekend! ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/19 "2019-07-29T16:21:23Z")
Bremerton, Washington has an annual [Blackberry Festival](http://www.blackberryfestival.org/). It’s a pretty cool idea (pie, ice cream, shakes, etc) but it’s so damn crowded we don’t go anymore. (insert Yogi Berra joke here) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793/20 "2019-07-29T16:26:17Z")
I live near **Apollo, PA** (a palindrome!). Their summer fair is called The Apollo Moon Landing Festival. It’s just your typical small town fair. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > At the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Apollo, Pennsylvania, was the only place in the world named Apollo. Coincidentally, it is in Armstrong County, and the name of the first astronaut to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong. On the day of the moon landing, members of the Apollo fire department dressed as astronauts and drove to nearby Moon Township, where they planted a flag and returned with some “Moon Soil.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-festivals/837793.md?page=2)