Strange celebrations

Odd Festivals

Celebrations, contests, gatherings, and traditions that could only happen here.

67 documented festivalsBrowse the festival calendar

Cawker City Picnic & Twine-A-Thon

Cawker City, Kansas

Cawker City invites visitors to add more twine to its enormous community ball before a small-town picnic and weekend activities.

August

Festival of Fools

Burlington, Vermont

Burlington fills Church Street with buskers, circus performers, comedians, musicians and other street entertainers for a free downtown spectacle.

August

Great American Banana Split Celebration

Latrobe, Pennsylvania

Latrobe celebrates its claim as the banana split's birthplace with dessert contests, entertainment, family activities and plenty of oversized sundaes.

August

National Lentil Festival

Pullman, Washington

Pullman celebrates the humble lentil with giant-batch chili, chef demonstrations, sports, a parade, vendors, music and a full day of Palouse food culture.

August

National Mustard Day

Middleton, Wisconsin

Middleton turns mustard into a street celebration with tastings, games, live music, food and the condiment collection of its famous museum.

August

Squonkapalooza

Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Johnstown gives Pennsylvania's famously miserable Squonk its own festival of folklore, cryptids, speakers, vendors and creature-themed activities.

August

WNC Bigfoot Festival

Marion, North Carolina

Downtown Marion goes Sasquatch for a day of Bigfoot speakers, calling contests, themed vendors, family activities and cryptid curiosity.

August

World’s Ugliest Dog Contest

Santa Rosa, California

Rescue dogs with unforgettable looks take the stage in a long-running contest that celebrates unconventional appearance, personality and pet adoption.

September

BugFest

Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh fills downtown with more than 100 insect exhibits, science demonstrations, games and even bug-filled food during one enormous celebration of arthropods.

September

Burning of Zozobra

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe burns a towering marionette stuffed with the community's worries.

September

Hudson Valley Garlic Festival

Saugerties

Saugerties fills Cantine Field with garlic growers, unusual foods, cooking demonstrations, music, crafts and enough garlic to perfume the entire weekend.

September

Idaho Spud Day

Shelley, Idaho

Shelley celebrates Idaho potatoes with spud picking, tug-of-war, sack races, fry eating, a parade and a full small-town street festival.