Fall Festivals That Celebrate Animals

Every writer wants the setting in his story to be as authentic as possible. You want the reader to feel as though he is part of the story and is right there experiencing everything right along with your characters. If your story happens to take during the fall of the year, an event could take place at one of the following festivals in the correct city to give your story a bit more realism.

The Vulture Fest takes place in Makanda, Illinois. The festival celebrates the migration of two different vultures to the region, the black vulture and the turkey vulture. The return of vultures to the region signals the end of summer. It takes place for two days during the third week in October. While you watch the sky fill with these returning black birds, you can buy some of your typical fair food and look at the homemade arts and crafts of local vendors.

The Coon Dog Graveyard Celebration takes place every Labor Day in Tuscumbia, Alabama, the only city in this nation in which a coon dog graveyard in the nation exists. Troop, on September 4, 1937, was the first coon dog to be buried in Freedom Hills cemetery. Every year, members of the Tennessee Valley Coon Hunters Association gather at the cemetery to throw a huge party with music, food, and wine while they pay their respects to their departed brethren.

There are four countries in which the Elephant Polo World Championship can take place. One week out of the month of September is chosen for riders to play polo while perched upn these huge, lumbering pachyderms. These animals are so large that at times they unintentionally hide the ball while the polo is being played. Then there is the amount of dung, 1200 pounds of the smelly stuff, that the seven elephants have to get rid of sometime during the day. The championship might be fun to watch on television, but I don't think I would want to attend.

The Great Gorilla Run is a charity event that has taken place in London, England every year since 2003. Hundreds of people don gorilla outfits; they run (or walk) a 7 kilometer route through the sights of London. Various styles of gorillas, from businessman gorillas to Scottish gorillas, can be spotted. Proceeds from this run go to help save the remaining 720 mountain gorillas left in the world.

Carlsbad Caverns in Carlsbad, New Mexico is home to thousands of Mexican Freetail Bats for 6 months out of every year. The International Bat Festival, which takes place during September, not only provides a lot of fun for those who attend, it also teaches the public the truth about bats through lectures, lore, and stage exhibits.

On the last Sunday in November every year, there is a Monkey Buffet Festival in Lopburi, Thailand. Macaques, who freely roam through the city, are thought to bring good fortune. During the festival, the locals provide food, ranging from fruits to soda, for these little primates who can practically inhale more than 4 tons of this all-you-can-eat feast.

Part of the Royal Adelaide Show in Adelaide, Australia is a sport that I bet you never knew existed - the Pig Racing and Diving Event. No, the pigs are not thrown into the pool of water, they jump willingly. Go to YouTube and search for pig diving. It is a blast to watch their graceful diving. Why do they have this event? I couldn't find a reason, maybe it is just held for the fun of it.

The Tübingen Duck Race is an annual event in Tübingen, Germany every October. How does one gets the ducks to race, you might wonder. It is a lot easier when they are not of the feathered variety, but are of the plastic, yellow species whose natural habitat is the bathtub. Their bottoms weighted, these bright yellow ducks bob along the River Nekar from Alleenbrücke to Neckarbrücke, with the crowds watching cheering them on their merry way.

The International Goat Days Festival takes place in Millington, Tennessee every September. The festival was originally founded with the intent of holding goat races, although I'm not sure how you would persuade goats to race each other. Now it has grown so much more than that and has the feel of a county fair, even though the main focus is on goats. Puck Fair, an 800-year-old celebration of goats that takes place in Killorglin, Ireland, has become its sister festival across the ocean.