What's the best themed annual 'festival' (example in details) that you attend or have attended?

…the state of Illinois, and it seems as if the Testicle Festival is a state-wide tradition…

Never heard of it. Lived most of my life in Illinois since 1988.

Byron, Illinois, @jaytkay. Originator of the Testicle festival and local copycats. It’s in my link.

Here’s one of our famous ones, about 40 miles from me in these here hills. great fun!

Jumping frog jubilee www.frogtown.org/#!frog-jump/cz6x

My mom and I went to the Sawdust festival every year while we lived in OC.

I’ve also been to OzzFest a few times.

I used to love the Pumpkin Festival in NH. They’d close off Main Street (four travel lanes plus four lanes of angle parking; very wide street), put up scaffolding, set up some street food vendors, and you’d have 25,000+ lit jack-o-lanterns, and a few word records; 30,581 in 2013.

Sadly, last year there was a full-fledged riot, so thanks to some unruly college kids, the permit for the 2015 Pumpkin Fest was turned down almost unanimously (13–1), marking the end of an era.

Here in Central Ohio we have the annual Millersport Sweet Corn Festival I look forward to every year for Corn Gorging. Truth be told, the whole festival is basically about eating and I am all about that!

And here I associate frog jumping with Mark Twain, @Coloma. lol

Very cool, @cheebdragon. I’m amazed at the inclusion of glass blowing – I’ve never heard of it traveling before. Great festival!

What a damned shame. Hopefully they thought a year’s cooling-off period would let them re-take the festival, @jerv. I hope it returns.

I looked at the schedule, @majorrich, and The Corn Festival looks like great, old-fashioned fun. Tell me, are there restrictions on what is “butter” for the corn?

Not sure. The corn is in great long troughs of hot water with a skim of butter-like substance. When you go through the lines it is quite an operation they run. We nearly always go on Saturdays for lunch.

There is a guy who walks around Pomona selling corn out of a grocery cart….it’s covered in mayonnaise and chilli powder…...Sooo disgusting.

Sounds very disgusting, @cheebdragon!

Corn with mayonnaise and chilli powder = Elotes

sounds great! My record last year at a corn gorging contest was 6 ears in 5 minutes. But I lost to a person who was a true glutton.

@majorrich I’d be suspicious of that butter like substance, maybe it is the renderings of deceased corn gorgers. haha ewwww

I’m all over the esquites, @jaytkay! The local grocery has corn on sale 3 ears for $1 – I may have to try it. Funny when I read the elotes recipe I was thinking I’d just cut it off the cob and stir the rest in.

Far cry from corn on the cob with mayo and chili powder served from a grocery cart!

Mayonnaise on anything is disgusting to me.