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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Get Rural With the Emmett Cherry Festival and Dairy Days

Posted by Deanna Darr on Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 12:55 PM

No matter how big the valley's cities get, many of them still stay true to their agricultural roots. This weekend, there will be two case studies ripe for exploration.

No. 1: The Emmett Cherry Festival, running Thursday, June 16-Saturday, June 19. This hometown festival has been going since the 1930s, and each year it serves up a heavy schedule of family friendly events, including a rodeo, parade and car show on Saturday.

And because it is the Cherry Festival after all, there's a cherry baking contest, a cherry pie-eating contest and even a cherry pit spitting contest. Gotta love those cherries ... but watch out for their natural laxative-like side effects.

Most of the events are free, including free admission, free music and entertainment, free kids’ activities and free contest entries.

Another granddaddy festival, Meridian Dairy Days, will mark its 81st year Thursday, June 17-Saturday, June 19, throughout the Meridian downtown area.

The festival is a nod to the fact that once, Meridian was dotted with dairy farms rather than planned subdivisions, and during the event, just about everything has a dairy theme: the dairy princess, the dairy parade, the cow art on business windows throughout town, and even the Saturday morning milk run.

Vendors will be set up in Storey Park throughout the day on Friday with food (much of it dairy themed, of course), arts and crafts, while the highlight of the festival for many, the Dairy Days Parade, will be held on Friday beginning at 7 p.m. And for those uninitiated in the ways of the Dairy Parade, yes, there are a lot of cows in the parade and they are inexplicably put in front of the marching band.

Check the websites for each festival for a full schedule of events.