Fairs, Festivals and other annual events...who needs 'em?
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Living in the small city of Pendleton, Oregon and this being the second full week of September only can mean one thing for me: The Pendleton Round-Up! It’s the fourth largest rodeo in North America and the only one that takes place on grass rather than dirt. This week every year our sleepy little town quadruples in size, local business owners make most of their profit for the whole year and most locals get annoyed at least a little by all of the drunken out-of-towners that come to dress up to play cowboys and Indians for a week. Although this is a rich 108 year tradition, some locals thrive on it, some can’t stand it and others like myself take it at face value and have kind of a ¯_(ツ)_/¯ attitude toward it.
Does the city/town you live in have an annual festval, fair or some other similar event? If so, how do you feel about it and how is it generally received by the rest of the residents that live there year round?
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The State Fair is in my town and should be coming around next month, maybe in November, I don’t know. I don’t often go due to a desire to not get shot, although it’s probably not as bad as it used to be.
We also have a festival called the Red River Revel next month. Ten days of artists, live music and food. We usually do try to make that one, sometimes they have really good bands and the art is fun to enjoy even if not buying it. Plus you can get the Wonderstick there.
/image Wonderstick ice cream cones
Impossible to eat without inappropriate thoughts.
@djslack my boss will be in ruston today recruiting students! We’re in camden.
@djslack what is the wonderstick made from? It almost looks like a churro…
@sicc574 that’s what I imagined when I first saw it. If it were a churro or tasted like a churro it would be amazing and I would get one every year no matter it’s appearance.
Unfortunately, at least when I got my wife one a few years back they were more like a less flavorful/less sweet Cap’n Crunch type thing. Over half the diameter is cone, there’s just a tube full of ice cream running down the middle as it’s injected through. So most of the experience is similar to the very bottom of an old school soft serve ice cream cone where there’s a lot of cone and just a bit of ice cream.
/image soft serve cone dairy queen
A churro would likely lead to structural failure, but I believe it could be taken in a churroward direction with potential for great improvement.
@djslack Hey you’re near Ruston? A friend of mine is on local sports radio there I think. John Tabor? ESPN 97.7.
@Targaryen I’m an hour away, but that was the fastest example pic I could find within the edit window.
I’ve heard John’s name before but I’m not sure in what context. I’m certain that he knows my friend James McDaniel, probably well, through working at the station.
Incidentally, I heard that James will be on Haunted Live on the Discovery Channel tonight. This is one of the rare times I regret cutting cable but maybe I can find a way to catch it somewhere tonight.
The small town where my office is located has a few events each year. They include a rodeo, a food festival, a wild west week and bike week (Harleys, not Schwinns). A neighboring town goes big with festivals on Halloween, and Christmas, plus a popular Veterans Day event and some wine and food or wine and chocolate events. Each town has their share of arts and crafts festivals and the like.
These events are very important for the local economy. Many merchants benefit from the out of town visitors who come for the events and spend money throughout the two communities. My company is one of the beneficiaries of these events.
The largest of these events is Bike Week. It’s no Sturgis, but we see thousands of bikers throughout the week. Economic benefits aside, massively increased traffic and significant noise pollution definitely stretch the patients of local residents in these normality sleepy little bergs. I would say the majority of locals who don’t own businesses do not support this particular event.
I haven’t been to the Tulsa State Fair in years. But one of our bedroom communities, Broken Arrow, has something called Rooster Days every spring. It is not to be missed for its small-town feel. Oh! Look! It has a cornhole tourney this year! https://roosterdays.com/
“What once was a backyard game has made it to the big leagues.”
@therealjrn I have never seen cornhole in such a competitive manner…That’s awesome!
My town of approximately 400 started its first fall festival last year and we’re combining it with a bbq cookoff this year. It’ll be this Saturday. My parents helped start it so they’re pretty excited about it. Last year it was on my birthday but i had class so i didn’t get to go
@ivannabc Wow 400, that’s tiny, I can relate though. Growing up, I had a two cousins that i grew up with that were more like brothers tgsngg too i
@ivannabc oops fell asleep half way through the post. It is suppsed to finish with: I spent many summers at their house, in the small town of Irrigon, Oregon which, at the time only had about 700 people. It was small but we always managed to find something fun to do.
https://cruisinthecoast.com/
Annual event that covers highway 90 on the beach from Bay St Louis to Pascagoula / Moss Point. Tons of old cars actually driving on the road instead of static displays. Almost as many people come to watch as participate.
/image cruisin the coast
We have the “Great State Fair of Oklahoma” (you have to sort of sing that as a jingle). I went and bought discount tickets last night at almost midnight for it (wife sent me).
I dunno I like checking out Renaissance Faires. I mean I know they’re basically the same thing everywhere but still it’s kind of fun to wander through. Short of that my hometown as a fair. It’s not much but the height arguably is the demolition derby, though this year it seems they had Mark Wills stop by. Other than a few local Patriots cheer leaders and George Washington rolling through town back in the day (bringing cannon from Ft. Ticonderoga to Boston for the siege) Wills might be the biggest name to probably get off the bus and wonder why the hell he was there.
We haven’t gone to the Kitsap County Fair in 2 years or gone to the big Puyallup Fair in a long time. It was more fun when the kids were young.
We did drive up to the Calgary Stampede 8 yrs ago. They had a pretty cool rodeo there.
Is Pendleton near Salem at all? I will have to check a map. Heading to Salem to see friends this weekend and I think we’ll be checking out some (church?) octoberfest…
@moonhat Salem, Massachusetts?
@moonhat @Targaryen sheesh… No.
/image Salem the cat sabrina
@moonhat like 5 hours away, are you driving or flying?
@sicc574 driving down from Bham /Everett tomorrow morn.
We are definitely way out of your way then. I am guessing that you’re taking I-5 the whole way…we are about 3 hrs east of Portland on I-84. Have a safe trip to Salem!