A flower. A match. A bowl of heated grains. An ear of corn. A bridge. Moth larvae. On their own, all fairly inane objects that are just "background" items in our day to day lives. Seemingly almost unrelated to one another, right? However, believe it or not, these items all do have something in common: They are all the basis for large festivals!
For weeks now people at work and church have been talking about the events of this last weekend here in Charleston, especially Saturday. You see, in the morning there was the Cooper River Bridge Run, a 10k race on the Arthur Ravenel Bridge (If you watch Darius Rucker's "Comeback Song," you'll see the bridge in the background.) Then, in Summerville, there was the Flowertown Festival. It was a huge deal, almost 200,000 people were expected to attend. As I listened to co-workers and church-goers I really couldn't believe just how big these events were supposed to be. It just didn't seem right that a town of 40,000 people would draw 200,000 to an arts festival held in and around a small park named after a fairly common flower. I was wrong.
Summerville is known far and wide for two things: Pine trees and azalea flowers. They even combined it into a motto, "Flowertown in the Pines." To me these seem like the key aspects of general Southern landscape, but I guess Summerville just has a higher concentration or just likes them more. In any case, I signed up to help face paint in my church's booth. I parked over a mile away from the event just so I could avoid the traffic. Even at a mile away I was still too close :) So I began my trek to the booth. It wasn't long before I ended up in the middle of a throng of other people walking towards the festival. It was one of those times where once a group started walking they didn't stop, and the police ended up stopping the crowd just so that cars could go through the intersection. Once I finally got into the festival I looked forward at the next mile of road. It was a wavy ribbon of wall-to-wall people. Now I could see how 200,000 people could fit here. Vendors lined both sides of the road and were set up in Azalea park. It was easy to see all of them in just one pass merely for how slowly we had to walk. Plenty of time for observation! Next year I need to take a friend and spend more time looking through the vendors...
So once I got home from Flowertown yesterday, I started thinking about how big the event was, given the nature of the event and the population of the host town. To me, it seemed like some of these area festivals were so much larger than any events that I had been to in Ohio. I did some reaseach...
The Flowertown Festival draws 200,000 visitors from about 14 different states. Vendors come from as far away as Alaska (Can't say I blame them. Seventy versus ten below? Yeah.) It's a three day event held in an area of about three square miles. Busy busy. Entertainment? Art vendors, a "Taste of Summerville", and various amateurs singers.
I tried to compare this to the Medina County Fair. They have about 100,000 people over seven days
spread out over 60 acres. The slightly larger Wayne County Fair draws 133,000 over five days. Entertainment? Famous country music acts, amusement rides, a bajillion (real word) animals, and various other domestic competitions. The base populations of the host towns are 27,000 and 26,000 respectively.
St. George, South Carolina has a population of 2,500. Each year they host the "World Grits Festival," a three-day event honoring the fact that they have the highest grit consumption per capita in THE WORLD. Average crowd? 50,000. Entertainment? Grit eating contest, roll in the grit contest, and a 5k grit race. Oh yeah, and lots of vendors.
There is the Blue Tip Festival- Wadsworth's pride and joy. In the two days prior to the kick-off parade, chairs and blankets are set out along the parade route, staking claim to the best seats. The parade goes on for almost two hours, featuring local politicians, bands, every fire truck and ambulance in the three county area, and lots and lots of candy. The festival itself, spanning five days, features amusement rides, carnival games, and vendor booths from local area businesses and organizations. It draws about 30,000 people each year.
Lodi is home to the yearly Sweet Corn Festival each year. Following a parade (which features the pro-marijuana crowd!) there is a three day festival that includes amusement rides, food, and a tug-of-war competition. Attendees? Based on research, anywhere from 10,000-20,000 people.
Back to that Bridge Run, it's a 10k spanning the Arthur Ravenel Bridge. This year they stopped taking entires once the first 40,000 people entered. All but about 2,000 people ran. There was an estimated crowd of 20,000 people. For three hours they have a festival with food booths, vendors, and other entertainment. But 40,000 running over a bridge? Though different races with different qualification criteria, for comparison purposes the Boston Marathon has 20,000 participants, and the NYC marathon draws about 43,000 runners.
So, just as I thought, relatively speaking South Carolina draws incredibly large crowds to festivals that feature fairly inane objects and have minimal carnival entertainment. Ohio on the other hand has festivals with lots of amusement (and way more parades) but relatively smaller crowds. Why is this? I have no idea. This is a blog, not a research article! In the words of my boss, "We just like big parties here in the South!" Big parties they are, and fun parties at that!
Oh, just to highlight the one VERY large festival that Ohio throws, there is always Dick Goddard's Wooly Bear Festival. This is a one day event that draws almost 100,000 people to a small town to watch a parade with 2,000 entries that worships a worm. Congrats Ohio, you win the crazy festival award!
On that note, my good friend Benadryl is calling my name, and I must heed it's call or else I won't be able to breathe tonight. I love pollen. Have a wonderful evening and plan on attending next year's local festivals with me! (Except for the Grits Festival. Can't say that I'll ever go to an event celebrating ground up corn!)
P.S.- Happy 22nd Birthday to my favorite brother!
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