Wacky & Wonderful: The 10 Weirdest Festivals Across America
By Katherine Foreman on April 13, 2016Festival season is officially upon us, and while many eager Americans are gearing up for music-driven mayhem like Coachella and Bonnaroo, there are others who wait anxiously year-round for a more, well, obscure type of entertainment. From sealskin trampolining to forming a mosh pit at an underwater jam session, the festival vibes around the U.S. are committed to celebrating diversity in all its weirdest, niche-based – and even downright gross – forms. If you’re in the market for something light on the mainstream, heavy on the bizarre, you’ve got to check out one of these top trending, off-the-beaten-path festivals.
Roadkill Cook Off—Marlinton, West Virginia
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That's right, folks—September 23-24, you yourself can enjoy the culinary expertise brought about by the lost art of roadside foraging for the low, low price of your fully functioning digestive tract.
pccocwv.com
World Champion Cow Chip Throws
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Haven't found your true calling yet? There's never a bad time to test a new skill, so it might as well involve throwing dried cow dung for the coveted championship role in one of the four states (Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Illinois and South Dakota) that host this event each summer.
cdn.modernfarmer.com
Underwater Music Festival—Florida Keys
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The good news for those of you who need a change of pace but don't want to forfeit music festivals is that there's a way to have your cake and eat it too—in the form of this visionary fest of the underwater variety.
NBC Miami
San Fermin Festival—New Orleans
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This annual bull racing festival down in the Big Easy pays tribute to the famous Spanish festival—except, instead of bulls, the city watches along in enjoyment as hundreds of roller derby girls in red and bullhorns coast through the streets.
NOLA Bulls
Humungus Fungus Festival—Crystal Falls, Michigan
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This annual organism-honoring festival pays tribute to one of the world's most pronounced fungi – a 48-acre spread – situated in northern Michigan. Bonus for attending these weekend festivities? The largest mushroom pizza in existence.
Buzzfeed
Heritage Duct Tape Festival—Avon, Ohio
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Duct tape enthusiast? So are the thousands of other people who gather annually west of Cleveland to celebrate life's most colorful adhesive.
New York Times
Testicle Festival—East Dundee, Illinois
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Because there are few things in life more appealing than an afternoon indulging in fried animal man parts.
Chicago Tribune
Frozen Dead Guy Day—Nederland, Colorado
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If you like crowd surfing, camping out under a warm summer sky and hanging out with friends in a crowded festival atmosphere, imagine how much you'll love an eerie, frost-filled weekend of coffin races, dead poetry slams and deathly awesome bands—all in honor of a dead guy from the city who's been frozen in suspended animation for more than 15 years.
Frozen Dead Guy Days
690-Mile Outdoor Festival—Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia
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Also known as the World's Longest Yard Sale, August will bring the thousands of vendors who participate yearly to perch themselves along Highway 127, pretty much guaranteeing that anything you're in the market for of the yard sale variety, you're going to find.
Business Insider
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This Alaskan festival is pretty unpredictably timed because it's determined by the end of the whaling season, but makes up for it through the legendary blanket toss, which is a glorious moment in time when locals will excitedly launch individuals into the air using a sealskin tarp.
Buzzfeed
