Outlandish Fall Festivals

Some very unusual festivals take place during the fall season. If one of the festivals I talk about in this article catch your interest, maybe you will want to include it in your next story.

Whether you are bald naturally or by choice, the festival for you is The Bald is Beautiful Convention. This meeting of bald individuals takes place in Morehead City, North Carolina each September. What is not to love about having no hair? You save money on hair-care products, you don't have to make any trips to the barber, and you never have to worry about having a bad hair day.

The Bean Fest and Great Championship Outhouse Race takes place in Mountain View, Arkansas every October. First, there is a bean cook-off. These people take cooking the 2,000 pounds of beans pretty seriously, though they still have a lot of fun. The many different teams can often be seen dressed as ghouls, clowns, vampires, or in whatever costumes they choose.

Next comes the outhouse race. The outhouses used for racing are not your normal, everyday outhouse. They are specially made for racing. These outhouses have wheels and a steering devices. There is one driver who is, of course, seated on the potty. Power is provided by two pushers. Teams are costumed according to the theme of their privy. There are cash prizes and also gold, silver, and bronze toilet seat awards.

The Beef-a-Rama is definitely my kind of festival, as well as the ultimate festival for every beef lover out there. It takes place every September in Minocqua, Wisconsin. About 1200 pounds of beef, slow-cooked on the streets, fills the area with tantalizing aromas and makes the crowd ravenous. Their hunger is satisfied deliciously when the mountain of beef is done and made into thousands of sandwiches for the patient, ravenous attendees of this yummy festival.

The festival in New Harmony, Indiana, the Big Whopper Liar's Contest, sounds like it would be a lot of fun. Held in September of every year, there is a contest to see who can spin the tallest tale, who can come up with the most outlandish lie ever. Contestants are graded on exaggeration, humor, how well they act on the stage, and how well they tell their story.

Grandpa John figured out an amazing way to make a lot of money with his farm. He designs mazes on graph paper, then cuts the maze, a different one each year, in his corn field with his riding lawnmower. Then he charges $5.00 a head for people to find their way through his creation. Grandpa John's Amazing Maze can be seen from the last weekend in September to Halloween each year.

Longview, Texas is the location for the Hands on a Hard Body Contest that takes place each September. The hard body that has hands laid on it is a brand new Nissan Frontier truck. The person who keeps just one hand on the body of the truck for the longest period of time without moving wins the truck. Sounds easy, huh? Maybe not so much. If you lift your hand for even a second, you are out of the competition. You are not allowed to lean on the truck, prop yourself up, squat, or rest your legs. The record time is 92 hours and 40 minutes. Wow! Can you imagine standing for that long?

Parsons, West Virginia is home to the Hick Festival, held in September of each year. This festival lasts for three days and has lots of different kinds of events. These events include lumberjacking, axe-throwing, the pitching of horseshoes, a turkey calling contest, a country music show, a gospel sing, a cake walk, fiddle and banjo contests, a beauty pageant, an ox roast, a chicken barbecue, and jug-playing.