What does your town celebrate?

The first Monday in April has been known as Tater Day in our town for the past 152 years.It all started when farmers came to town to swap and trade for sweet potato slips.The whole family would load up in the wagon(dogs included) and head for Benton.Some coming from as far as 15 to 20 miles away.People would celebrate the coming of spring and start planning for their crops. Mules,dogs and guns were traded and the occasional saddle horse.(Most only had mules)
We even had some local Native Americans show up each year even into the 1900's.

This tradition is still carried out today,although customs have changed. Now,we have a monster flea market,a fair with rides comes to town and we have a grand parade.You can't find any sweet potato slips,unless you go to the co-op and ask for them,but you can get a funnel cake or a corn dog.

The parade consists of all the high school bands in the area.They used to have school on Tater Day,but too many kids were playing hookey,so now it is dismissed in all of West KY.
We have lots of horse drawn vehicles,classic cars and a Miss Tater Day in a convertable. But mostly there are the horses and mules.We have in the neighborhood of 3000 horses,ponies and mules with riders that bring up the rear of the parade.(naturally!)It's been said that on this day,the horse population outnumbers the human one.

Now,I've told you about my town...what about yours? I've heard of Strawberry Festivals,Apple Festivals,Deer Festivals and even a Mosquito Festival! What are you famous for? All little towns seem to celebrate something.Let's hear from you.I'll bet this is a fun thread.

Mel, that sounds fun! Our town celebrates Mardi Gras..sorry to say it isn't as wholesome as tator day :( !

Apalachin fireman's field days.Always the 1st wednsday through Saturday in June. For some reason it draws huge crowds from about a 100 mile radius.at it's core it is a small carnival in an even smaller town but "everyone" comes to it and the parade will have firemen from all the surrounding towns in NY and Pennsylvania.

I live near a town that has Apple Festival..in the fall..
Apple Fritters made right there in front of you..they close the main street down..no cars allowed..the shops have sales on..displays..apple cider...
there are clowns ..face painting..jumping castles...
the place is mobbed!
Hard to get a parking spot.

september is watermelon festival for hempstead tx. we close down main st. have a parade with a teen beauty contest to be queen watermelon. street stands to sell crafts and rides for all the brave people.

We've travelled a lot and one of my favorite things to do is hunt down these local celebrations.It's so un-touristey.

One of my favorite places to go is Mt.View,AR. They have a Bean Festival every October.We go for the music,because people come from all over the country to play music with each other.But the Festival is a really big deal. They have cornbread cooking contests and a monster pot of beans cooking on the coutr square.

After everyone has their fill of beans and cornbread,the highlight of the day is the Great Outhouse Race. There are two classes,Stock and Custom. Teams push the outhouses down Main Street,with the driver sitting in the 'seat' of honor.
It's a real hoot!

http://history.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/research/sft/

Wow! Sis.....NICE!!!

Yes,the wagons come through and camp out and we all go visit them' Sing,eat,dance and tell stories,soo much fun' We also,take our town kids/grandkids to ride to the next town on the horses(theirs)and ride in the wagons too' Someday they can tell their kids of the "trail ride too"'

My town's annual event is "Pioneer Day". There's a parade down Main street, just one house down from mine so I can watch from the bench on the front porch! We have all the emergency vehicles from every town in Grayson County. There are antique cars, and Horsemen, the Grand Marshall throws candy at the children.....typical, wonderful small town parade. After the parade the vendors, and the schools set up their wares on the Square.....ad the day wans away, the Fire Department set's up the Barbecue, and the dancing in the streets begin, will live performers.

"eyes"

Rose Festival in Portland, (for those you who don't know...Vancouver is a suburb of Portland, oregon, we are across the river from portland)
big parade, carnival comes to town, big shopping hoopla, and a famous parade, all floats are made of flowers.

Portland is the city of roses, but I'll tell you something, I have never had a rose thrive, becuase it is so wet here, our roses are constantly plagued with black spot. everyone I know who grows roses has this problem, I had about 6-7 roses when I first landscaped my gardens, and after 2-3 years, I yanked them out and was ready to toss them when a friend offered to relieve me of them.

I used to work a block away from Waterfront park, where the carnival would set up, as well as merchants from all over the west coast. Bought my first OXI CLEAN at the rose festival about 5 years ago, (great stuff). We used to go there on our lunch hour and eat foods that we usually didnt eat at lunch, like elephant ears, corn on the cob, those greasy curly fries, hot dogs and hamburgers.

We also have several festivals in the summer.
where all the restaurants in town have booths, and again there is a carnival on one side, and food galore. I think the proceeds go to feed the homeless.

I don't live in a town, but here are some of the towns around me and the festivals that they celebrate:

Marion - Popcorn Festival
Bucyrus - Bratwurst Festival (though I think the quantity of beer consumed here exceeds that of bratwurst)
Galion - Pickle Festival

I'm not much into festivals though. There's too much noise and expensive food and not much entertainment.

Don't got to many guess they do charge alot though' Now I'm hungry,lol'

Sincce I live in the country near Sierra Vista and Tombstone, AZ I'll do both.

Sierra Vista is the "Home of the Buffalo Soldiers" at our Army base, Fort Huachuca. They have an annual parade and have troops dressed in the old calvary uniforms.

Tombstone has a festival every time you turn around...and are great fun. Wyatt Earp Days....and Helldarado Days, to name two. Plenty of "gunfights" in the street. We go to Tombstone quite often...festival or not...just like to go "watch the tourists". Jo