This Delaware event made a list of the wackiest US festivals. Have you ever been?

Delaware is known to have some unique happenings, but the one that just got a shoutout on this list of the wackiest fall festivals in the United States might surprise you.  

Wacky fall festival in Delaware 

There are plenty of odd and whimsical Delaware traditions that out-of-towners, and even some Delawareans, might see as a bit weird. The one that Thrillist, a media company, chose to highlight for its list of the weirdest and wackiest fall festivals in the country is the Sea Witch Festival in Rehoboth Beach.

If you don’t know what a Sea Witch Festival is, Rehoboth Beach prefaces the event with the following eerie blurb:

“Not all witches hang out in caves with their cauldrons; sometimes they have a strong affinity for the wide-open sea.” 

In short, it’s to celebrate the lore of the alternative mermaid mentioned above.  

This year’s festival runs from 8 a.m. on Oct. 25 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 27. It includes a haunted bonfire, hayrides, a pet-friendly costume parade with nautical floats, a broom-tossing competition and a lantern-lit story time that tells the “true tale” of a ship that sank off the coast of Delaware in 1785.  

Oh, and apparently, ghosts will be in attendance …  

Weirdest, wackiest fall festivals in the US 

Whether you’re a Sea Witch Festival regular or you’ve never attended the event, some of the other festivals on Thrillist’s list make Rehoboth’s celebration look completely ordinary. 

Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw & Festival  

Although this takes place on Aug. 30 and Aug. 31, Thrillist added it to the list because it’s “too absurd to skip.” This festival in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, stems from the old practice of using dried buffalo chips – poop – as fuel to warm the houses of pioneers.  

Now, Wisconsin keeps the spirit alive with its festival that includes music, arts and crafts, magicians, a “cow chip breakfast” and chip throwing.  

Arcola Broomcorn Festival 

The Arcola Broomcorn Festival in Arcola, Illinois, ran from Sept. 6 through Sept. 8 and celebrated all things related to broomcorn, a plant that can be dried and bound together to make brooms.  

Aside from making brooms, festivalgoers could enjoy arts and crafts, live music, a 5K and 10K and a broom-sweeping contest. A parade featuring the Lawn Rangers, a lawn mower drill team that has been a staple event since 1980, also was on the agenda. 

World Chicken Festival 

The World Chicken Festival in London, Kentucky, runs from Sept. 26 to Sept. 29 in Laurel County, the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken, according to Thrillist.  

The festival is four days of fun that includes a “Rooster tail” mullet contest, Colonel Sanders impersonation competitions, live entertainment featuring the Gin Blossoms, carnival rides and the world’s largest stainless-steel skillet.  

Nearby in Corbin, the Sanders Café & Museum highlights the 11 herbs and spices of the original KFC recipe and other memorabilia. This location is also on the National Register of Historic Places.  

Trailing of the Sheep Festival  

The Trailing of the Sheep Festival in Sun Valley, Idaho, runs from Oct. 2 to Oct. 6 and highlights 1,500 sheep as they embark on their annual migration through Main Street in Ketchum.  

Event highlights include sheep storytelling, a sheep jam, farm-to-table dinners, wooly items for purchase, sheepdog trials and a Q&A with sheep ranchers.  

FireAnt Festival  

The FireAnt Festival in Marshall, Texas, is on Oct. 12 and celebrates its 42nd celebration this year.  

The festival began in 1982 to heighten morale during a period of economic hardship and, according to Thrillist, the name was given at random just because it sounded nice and fun. 

The event is characterized by fire ant mascots; a parade; the Diaper Derby; a chicken chunkin’ contest; a fire ant calling contest; and a gurning contest, which is about making the most horrible and grotesque facial expressions possible.  

… To each their own! 

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North American Wife Carrying Championship 

The North American Wife Carrying Championship in Newry, Maine, on Oct. 12 is self-explanatory.  

The sport of wife-carrying began in Finland due to the local legend of a robber stealing food and women from the towns he pillaged. Now, it’s an annual sport competition – in its 23rd year – that requires participants to carry their partners through a dry and muddy 278-yeard obstacle course. Partners can be carried fireman-style, piggyback or in the Estonian carry, which is flipped upside down with legs around the runner’s shoulders.  

Wondering why people do this? The winning team wins their partner’s weight in beer and five times their weight in cash.  

Bridge Day  

Bridge Day in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is on Oct. 19 and celebrates New River Gorge, the 63rd National Park. 

The event is held annually on the third Saturday in October and focuses on the allure of jumping off or rappelling down the park’s 876-foot-tall bridge, which BASE jumpers have done since 1980. The bridge is the world’s second-longest arch bridge.  

BASE jumping stands for the four categories of fixed objects that can be jumped from: buildings, antennas (radio masts), spans (bridges) and earth (cliffs). 

Texas Bigfoot Conference 

The Texas Bigfoot Conference in Jefferson, Texas, is on Oct. 18 and Oct. 19 and honors the city’s name as “The Bigfoot Capital of Texas,” according to Thrillist.  

Although the location of Bigfoot varies according to witness accounts, the Texas Bigfoot Research Center reports a long history of sightings in the state. The annual conference features dinners, Bigfoot enthusiasts and speakers.  

Conference attendees also can stop by the Bigfoot statue in the Port Jefferson History and Nature Center. The area between the train bridge and the entrance is known as “Bigfoot Alley.” 

Punkin Chunkin’

Punkin Chunkin’ in Clayton, New York, is on Oct. 19 and leans into medieval fun.  

Attendees build their own catapults and trebuchets to launch pumpkins into the St. Lawrence River, with many donning Viking helmets with horns. The pumpkins reach 150 miles per hour and reach at least 1,000 feet. Other activities include a farmers market, live music, a kids’ competition and a barbecue contest.  

West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta 

The West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Tualatin, Oregon, is on Oct. 20 and is hosted by the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers, whose goal is to grow “obscenely large vegetables,” according to Thrillist.  

The regatta is the main event and features fifteen competitors dressed in costumes as they race in giant hollowed-out pumpkins with a kayak paddle on the Lake of the Commons. Other events are the 5K, a Terminator pumpkin weigh-off and pumpkin golf.  

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Woolly Worm Festival  

The Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk, North Carolina, is on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 and celebrates the woolly worm.  

Some people believe that the hue of each of the worm’s 13 brown segments will predict how severe the following 13 weeks of winter will be, dubbed the Woolly Worm Forecast. Darker colors signal harsher weather for a given week while lighter colors mean more agreeable conditions.  

The festival highlights the tradition and also includes vendors selling pottery, photography and worm houses and hosts a worm race. Winning worms get a cash prize and are used to predict the weather of the upcoming winter.  

The Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Festival 

In Manitou Springs, Colorado, the Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Festival is on Oct. 26 this year and celebrates Emma Crawford, a woman who was sick with tuberculosis and went to the town for its healing mineral water.  

The mineral water did not turn Crawford’s health around and she later died, requesting for her casket to be buried atop a mountain. When Manitou Springs flooded years later, her casket was unearthed and slid down the mountain into the town.  

The story inspired the town’s coffin races of today, which feature costumed teams of five racing through the town in heats, hoping to win prizes like “best Emma,” “best coffin” and “best entourage.” Aside from the festival, the town is big into Halloween and hosts movie nights and ghost tours throughout the month.  

Tarantula Awareness Festival  

The Tarantula Awareness Festival in Coarsegold, California, is on Oct. 30 and aims to educate people about the California Brown Tarantula during spider mating season in October.  

Halloween and spider fun come together for events like scream-offs, a costume parade, a rice of spiders, a pumpkin cheesecake contest, a tarantula poem contest and the hairy leg contest for humans.  

PA Bacon Fest 

The PA Bacon Fest is a two-day festival on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 in Easton, Pennsylvania, that celebrates the beloved food. Thrillist reports that the event has been named one of the top five bacon fests.  

During the festival, attendees will find live entertainment, a bacon-eating contest (complete with a big trophy), a bacon and craft beer pairing, a hog calling contest, a mascot dash for bacon and bacon-related costumes and pig and wiener dog races. Plenty of bacon-themed food will be in store, too.  

Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys’tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com.