Mini road trip: fall festival fun

[jtbell]

On Saturday, I took advantage of a crisp sunny day to visit two festivals in small towns a couple of hours' drive from home.

Stop 1

My first stop was at the Central Railroad Festival in the town of Central, which is nowhere near the center of South Carolina. It's way up in the northwest corner of the state, not far from Clemson and its university. The name comes from its location midway between Atlanta and Charlotte, on the railroad which was completed between those cities in 1873. In fact, the town was founded by the railroad company.

Here I learned that goat milk soap is a thing.

In keeping with the festival theme, the Norfolk Southern Railway, which now owns the railroad, sent a couple of trains through while I was there.

Central is home to a railroad club which operates a museum a block off Main Street. They have a large model railroad that winds through several rooms, on two levels.

 

[jedishrfu]

This is quite cool especially the multi-room railroad setup.

 

[mcastillo356]

So nice. Beautiful. Thanks

 

[jtbell]

Stop 2

About a 45 minute drive from Central via Clemson is Walhalla. It was settled by immigrants who fled Germany after the failed revolutions of 1848-49. Therefore its annual fall festival is an Oktoberfest.

Most of the food and activities were similar to other festivals in the area.

One food truck specialized in German food.

And there was a large tent where visitors could buy large mugs of beer and listen to a German-style band, which was taking a break when I took this picture.

I suspect the festival was more crowded in the evening, but I wanted to finish my two-hour drive home before dark.

 

[jtbell]

Stop 3 (a week later)

A week after this day trip, my town (Clinton SC) had its own festival. This time I could simply walk downtown, about a mile, instead of driving.

There were a couple of carnival rides for the kids.

And a "Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show".

And the usual festival food. Here I got some chili cheese fries.

The main theme here was a barbecue contest, with about 6 or 7 booths and food trucks. I decided to go with this one, and get some pulled pork.

After I got home, I didn't need any dinner. Nevertheless, I wasn't completely done with the festival, because around 9:30 there was a fireworks show. We couldn't see it from our house, but we could definitely hear it!

 

[mcastillo356]

The wood chooping and sawing pictured had make me remind of what we call "aizkoralitza" and "trontza", respectively, in Basque Country, where I was born and live.
Lovely trip!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_rural_sports

 

[berkeman]

And a "Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show".

What does the Lumberjack do when he jumps into that Octagon Pit? Does he 'wrassel' something short?

 

[jtbell]

Does he 'wrassel' something short?

They should at least have some beavers in there.