Last weekend, August 25th and 26th, was the 44th annual Tiblow Days, a local Bonner Springs festival featuring a carnival, parade, food trucks, and more. There’s something about a small town event that feels very charming and inviting, so this article will highlight other unique and fun small-town festivals around the country.

Maine Lobster Festival

Rockland, Maine, a small coastal town, has an August celebration dedicated entirely to lobsters, aptly named the Maine Lobster Festival. The festival is all about eating lobster in all kinds of forms, featuring dishes such as lobster mac and cheese and lobster bisque for visitors to try. As well as eating, visitors can also put their culinary skills to the test in the seafood cooking contest. For those who may not enjoy lobster, there’s also live music, a parade, and a lobster crate race where people compete for the fastest time traversing a path of lobster crates on water.

Trailing of the Sheep Festival

This festival takes place in Idaho, spanning five days in October. It’s planned around the annual relocation of sheep for the winter. The main events are the Championship Sheepdog Trials and the Big Sheep Parade with over 1,000 sheep and their ranchers. Besides that, kids can enjoy dance performances, arts and crafts, and sheep shearing demonstrations. Older visitors can participate in cooking classes, scenic tours, and wool spinning lessons.

Barbecue Festival

Held in Lexington, North Carolina, this festival celebrates all things barbecue. As expected from the name, visitors can partake in barbecue dishes of all kinds. With hundreds of vendors selling both food and crafts, there’s plenty to enjoy at the Barbecue Festival. Each year, there are different, unique activities. Some past examples have been pig sand sculpture contests and a bicycle stunt show.

Newport Winter Festival

For ten days in February in Newport, Rhode Island, the town puts on what’s known as New England’s largest winter extravaganza. There are over 150 events to enjoy, from a chili cook-off to a child friendly magic show to helicopter tours. With lots of live performances, food, and things to explore and do, there’s a reason this festival is ten days long. There’s not enough space in this summary to list everything that takes place.

Papillion Days

While not the smallest town to begin with, the town of Papillion, Nebraska, sees three times as many people visiting during the summer for Papillion Days. This five-day event features many activities such as a carnival, an ice cream social, face painting, a fireworks show, wildlife encounters, and so much more. The main attraction of Papillion Days is the largest parade in the state of Nebraska.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

This festival takes place in the town of Gilroy, California, named the “Garlic Capital of the World.” Festival-goers can try a variety of garlic-flavored food such as fries, pasta, and even ice cream. There are also events like live music and cooking contests. Each year, someone gets crowned Miss Gilroy Garlic at this festival. Outside of the weekend festival in July, the Gilroy Garlic Association hosts other events such as a golf tournament.

Bratwurst Days

Dubbed the “Bratwurst Capital of the World,” Sheboygan, Wisconsin lives up to that name with Bratwurst Days. At this festival, visitors of all ages can enjoy food vendors, live music, a parade, a carnival, and more. The biggest highlights of the event are a bratwurst eating contest, which has a first place prize of $300, and the crowning of the Bratwurst Queen.

Whiting Pierogi Fest

Whiting, Indiana is a small town with Polish heritage. To celebrate that heritage, the town hosts a festival in July all about pierogies. Besides eating these Polish-style dumplings, there are many other activities to enjoy. Festival-goers can watch performances of Polish dancing, listen to Polish music, compete in pierogi cooking contests, and watch something called the Pierogi Toss – whatever that is.

The World’s Fair

Here’s a small town festival much closer to home. With a population of just over 100 people, Kincaid, Kansas can definitely be described as small. During the Kincaid Fair, also known as The World’s Fair, however, hundreds of people have visited the town. Kincaid is actually the town where my dad grew up, so I asked him about what kind of activities there are. According to him, there’s a carnival on all three days of the festival. Some other activities include a turtle race, a bean supper, and 4-H events. This small town festival happens every September.