Micanopy Fall Festival celebrates 50 years of distributors and household enjoyable

Once a yr, individuals park on a half-mile stretch on US-441, each side of the highway brimmed with autos, and start the stroll to Micanopy. 

Micanopy’s Fall Festival all the time lands on the Florida vs. Georgia soccer rivalry weekend. This yr, the occasion celebrated its fiftieth yr. From Saturday to Sunday, 250 distributors stuffed Northeast Cholokka Boulevard as attendees packed streets, alleys and sidewalks. 

“It’s family oriented. It’s for everyone,” stated Tami Dixon, the 63-year-old president of the Miccanopy Fall Festival Committee. “There’s a lot of booths for children, little arts and crafts, and so it’s just a time that families can get out.” 

For Micanopy, a small, historic city with a population of simply over 600, this occasion is without doubt one of the largest of the yr. Crowds of hundreds go to to buy handmade gadgets like jewellery, work, woodwork, plushes, baggage and windchimes. 

People additionally bought vegetation, together with a sales space only for bonsai bushes. An abundance of meals choices ranged from candy treats to totally cooked meals.

The Fall Festival Committee started planning the occasion in February. The pageant operates below 12 nonprofit organizations. After the pageant, the cash left over is split between the organizations. 

“Every committee is amazing. They put so much time and effort in this,” Dixon stated. “It’s because they love their community, they love the people here and it’s just their home.”

Every yr, the committee sells a T-shirt particular to the occasion. This yr, the shirts bought out earlier than midday on Saturday. The T-shirts date again all the way in which to the primary ever Micanopy Fall Festival. 

Dixon stated she was despatched the primary yr T-shirt and was in a position to have it on the occasion this yr. Apart from holding it for photos, she stored the shirt safely stowed in a bag close to the knowledge sales space.

Micanopy Gold, a condiment enterprise that made its pageant debut 29 years in the past, continued the custom by returning this yr. Jon Allen and his mother and father began the enterprise by promoting sizzling sauce, and it’s now developed, providing salsa and marinated garlic. 

Sheri Allen, Jon’s daughter, has watched the pageant broaden since she was a baby. She grew up in Micanopy and now works for the condiment firm, which her father and grandparents created. She hopes the enterprise will proceed generationally inside the household.

“We stay real local, so people who don’t come here or don’t live right around the area, they’ll come specifically for this, because they don’t live closer to the stores that we sell in,” Sheri stated. 

Cathy Wallace, proprietor of Cathy Wallace Designs, travels from Clearwater yearly to work the occasion. She sells stitching and embroidered gadgets at her sales space, which is crammed with quilts and sewn kids’s garments. Her quilts have detailed designs that paint an image, like a forest with animals. 

“I like this area, so I come up, and I camp and at the same time do the shows,” Wallace stated. 

Since she retired final yr, she’s had extra time to do exhibits, she stated. Not having to fret about battle with a piece schedule provides her the time to specific her pastime. She plans on coming again to Micanopy within the years to return.

Contact Teia Williams at twilliams@alligator.org Follow her on X @teia_williams.

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