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We were driving to meet some friends at the ice cream place in Upland — Ivanhoe’s — when we came up to the 4-way stop at Ind. 18 and Ind. 5. Coming from the north were about 15-20 motorcycles; the lead driver signaled for us to go ahead.
“I suppose they want to all stay together,” I said.
“I hope they’re not going for ice cream” my wife wondered. We chuckled but somehow knew they probably were.
Turned out there was a “James Dean Motorcycle Rally” that afternoon at Ivanhoe’s. The small parking lot and the area was overflowing with at least a hundred other bikers, not counting the caravan that followed us in.
Our small group had figured we would avoid the crowd by meeting in mid-afternoon. “The best laid plans ...”
We still managed to get a couple tables and enjoy a mid-summer gathering with our old college crew. We left about suppertime, and the place was virtually empty. Next time, we figured, we’ll meet at 5 o’clock.
That’s all a round-about way of explaining how we came to take a leisurely Sunday drive down to Upland and back, going and coming two different ways and observing the signs for the summer festivals: Warren just completed their Salamonie Days; Upland had signs up for their summer festival (it was so memorable I can’t recall it); we went through Van Buren on the way home and saw their early preparations for the Popcorn Festival.
We Americans like our community festivals and most communities have some sort of party, usually using something they’re famous for or their heritage. Berne’s Swiss Days, coming up in just another week, is the best known and biggest in our area.
A little poking around finds a variety of festivals that communities host, from the mundane “Pioneer Days” to the fairs and festivals with a more creative touch.
Several communities have “Old Time Fiddlers” gatherings, a surprising number have “Renaissance Days,” but I like the more unique approaches. It makes sense, as in Berne’s case, to capitalize on their heritage. Nearby Peru has their Circus City Festival, Sauk Centre, Minn. has their Sinclair Lewis Days in honor of their native son and Fremont, Mich., hometown of Gerber Products, hosts the National Baby Food Festival.
Be happy you’re not the mayor there; he no doubt leads the featured baby food eating contest. It could be worse, I suppose. Gilroy, Calif., which bills itself as the Garlic Capital of the World, has a similar event at their Gilroy Garlic fest.
Then there are the really creative chamber of commerce types: Ketchikan, Alaska figured they might draw some people there with a dance festival. They came up with “Gigglefeet.” You can be creative by being simple: Wayne, Neb. hosts the simply-titled “Wayne Chicken Show” where the National Cluck-Off is held.
If you were trying to draw people to Twinsburg, Ohio for a summer weekend, what might you do? Have the Twins Day festival, of course.
We don’t have a summer festival. The 4-H fair could qualify except that everyone has those. The Street Fair is special, but it’s in the fall. Maybe we could attract people to Bluffton with a Pretzel Days weekend.
What else is Bluffton known for? St. Charles, Mo. apparently has a couple of small hills, so they have an annual “Festival of the Little Hills.” Maybe we could have a “Festival of the Small Bluff.”
Maybe not.
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