Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
From early summer through fall, small towns roll out the welcome mat with festivals celebrating their unique traits.
From county fairs and farmers markets to food truck Fridays, it’s peak season for exploring what’s best about Indiana small towns.
In Mitchell it’s the tart persimmon, in Shoals it’s catfish. Orleans celebrates the dogwood tree, Linton celebrates freedom in July and in Bedford limestone takes center stage. Across Indiana, the 92 counties host more than 500 festivals and events.
These events welcome hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors who boost those local economies. Festival dollars spent at vendors and nonprofits as well as at hotels, restaurants, gas stations have considerable economic impact. Festivals also can leave a lasting impression that a community is a good place to do business or put down roots.
Beginning Thursday, Jasper celebrates its German heritage with Strassenfest, a four-day festival that began in 1979. The festival will run Aug. 3-6 with food, music, including an Elvis tribute performance, a hot air balloon race, beer garden and a parade.
In the days leading up to the festival, Laura Grammer, Strassenfest chairwoman, said residents are mowing, planting flowers and cleaning up their sidewalks; the city street sweeper cleans the streets.
“Jasper wants to put their best foot forward so people want to be part of this community,” Grammer said.
What began as a small festival now draws 35,000 people from Indianapolis to Cincinnati for a cultural experience of German food, music and dancing. It’s the place to have a knockwurst, don a dirndl or lederhosen and listen to music on three stages, one of them built like a glockenspiel.
Nancy Eckerle is a member of the festival committee and also executive director of the Jasper Chamber of Commerce.
“Strassenfest has grown tremendously. The planning takes place year-round and we have a budget of more than $100,000,” she said.
Corporate sponsorships help offset costs such as insurance, electricity and paying for musicians.
One thing that makes the Strassenfest unique is its policy on allowing only nonprofit vendors.
“When the festival started, the biggest thing they wanted to do was provide a fundraiser for our nonprofits so they would only have to fundraise once a year and then take that money and do good things in the community,” Grammer said.
That continues to this day. The festival has about 20 nonprofit vendors.
Sharing the German culture is the other focus of the festival. Jasper’s German roots were established in the early 1800s when a group from Pfaffenweiler, Germany settled in the area.
Growing up, Grammer said Jasper was 95% German Catholic, but that has changed and now the Dubois County seat has a large Spanish-speaking population.
As the community has evolved, the festival is one way to remember Jasper’s roots. Over the past few years, Grammer said new activities to involve youth were added. The glockenspiel stage, made by Jim Corn, hosts youth events like the maypole dance.
Because of a large downtown construction project, the 2023 festival moved to Fourth Street and will return to its regular downtown location in 2024.
Here’s a look at some upcoming festivals in the Radius region
Aug. 3-5: Old Settlers Festival. Known as the oldest continuous celebration in Indiana, activities at Odon City Park.
Aug. 18-20: Milltown Festival. Live music, food trucks, car show and mullet contest.
Aug. 18-19: Newberry Festival in Greene County. Food and craft vendors, contents and parade.
Aug. 25-26: Scheid Diesel Extravaganza at Wagler MotorSports in Lyons
Aug. 26: Red, White and Brauen Music Fest in Jasper. All-day country music concert.
Sept. 1-2: Latino Culture Fest at Huntingburg City Park. Live music, authentic Latin American food, dances.
Sept. 1-3: Paoli Fall Festival on historic courthouse square. Carnival, car show and parade.
Sept. 2: Amish Quilt Auction in Cannelburg at the Simon G. Graber Community Building.
Sept. 7-10: Daviess County Turkey Trot at Montgomery Ruritan Park.
Sept. 7-10: White River Valley Antique Show at Daviess County Fairgrounds. Demonstrations of threshing machines, gospel night.
Sept. 15-16: Chandelier Barn Market at the Gasthof Village, Montgomery.
Sept. 15-16: Holland Fest at Holland Park, Dubois County.
Sept. 16: Scotland Festival. Music, wild west show, tours of historic hotel and barber shop.
Sept. 22-24: Huntingburg Herbstfest.
Sept. 23-30: Mitchell Persimmon Festival. Pioneer Village Candlelight Tour at Spring Mill State Park, vendors, contests, carnival and live music on Main Street in Mitchell.
Sept. 30: Linton Fall Arts Festival in downtown Linton.