WACKY AMERICAN FESTIVALS

Wacky American Festivals

Monday, May 5, 2008, 8:29 AM | Subscribe to the magazine

Source Article: Wacky Festivals

Locals in LeClaire, Iowa, get red in the face during the annual Tug Fest. (Courtesy Tug Fest LeClaire, Iowa)
The cooking heats up at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California, which goes through two tons of garlic in one weekend. (Courtesy Bill Strange)
An ostrich, one of many competing in the Chandler, Arizona, ostrich races, gives the camera a steely gaze. (Courtesy Chandler Chamber of Commerce)
The folks in St. George, South Carolina, love their grits—some even bathe in them. (Courtesy World Grits Festival)
Hobos like this one gather in Britt, Iowa, each August for music, a flea market, and poetry readings. (Courtesy Don and Mike of the RR Museum of Long Island)
Sea creatures of all sorts saunter down Surf Avenue at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade in New York City. (Courtesy Sand 2004)
Horned toads are the center of attention at this annual Coalinga, California, derby. (Courtesy Coalinga Area Chamber of Commerce)
A nimble competitor at the Lumberjack World Champions in Hayward, Wisconsin, where men and women chop, saw, roll, and climb logs. (Courtesy Steven Lankford Photography)
At the Punkin Chunkin event in Millsboro, Delaware, participants use homemade contraptions to launch pumpkins. (Courtesy World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association)
Chefs from around the globe descend on Abbeville, Louisiana, for a festival that culminates in the cooking of a 5,000-egg giant Cajun omelette. (Courtesy Luc Collee)