Mini road trip: fall festival fun

jtbell · Oct 19, 2021

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.

Street festival on a sunny day with crowds walking past white and blue canopy tents on a closed road; traffic signals hang overhead and a lamp post stands on the left.

Here I learned that goat milk soap is a thing.

Outdoor festival booth under a white canopy with a sign reading Handmade Goat Milk Soap, with several people browsing, next to a green Central South Carolina town sign.

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.

Outdoor festival street lined with stacked green and orange shipping containers, a white tent with a black speaker stand, a banner reading "Bailey Combined Utilities," and seated people at folding tables.

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.

Large model railroad layout with a tan fascia sign reading PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE TRAINS, KNOBS OR SCENERY, THANK YOU; a passenger train runs past a village of small buildings and wooded hills.

Model railroad layout with a painted city backdrop of brick and office buildings, a water tower, and a freight train of boxcars and tank cars, including Southern, M&StL and Central boxcars.

jedishrfu · Oct 19, 2021

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

mcastillo356 · Oct 20, 2021

So nice. Beautiful. Thanks

jtbell · Oct 21, 2021

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.

Small wooden shed-style booth decorated with a yellow banner reading "Walhalla Oktoberfest" in red letters, with Oktoberfest gift and souvenir signs and a food truck sign beside it.

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

Outdoor fall festival midway on a grassy field under a clear blue sky, with a carnival game booth with striped awning, flags including North Carolina and American flags, and crowds of people walking among tents.

Colorful carnival-style fun house facade with 'Circus Circus' sign and 'fun house' banner, with visitors on the ground and a stairway leading up to it.

One food truck specialized in German food.

Yellow food truck with a blue awning labelled German Food, with a red-shirted customer ordering at its serving window on a sunny festival grounds.

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.

Crowd of people seated at long wooden picnic tables under a large white tent at an outdoor festival, with colorful booths visible in the background.

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

jtbell · Oct 25, 2021

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.

Panoramic street photo of a small-town downtown on a sunny day, with a black ornate clock tower on a pole at the center, brick storefronts behind, and white canopy tents and blue pop-up tents set up along the street.

There were a couple of carnival rides for the kids.

Riders on a swing carnival ride with red and blue seats spinning on cables around a blue and red central tower, behind metal barricades marked ENTER, EXIT and TICKETS.

And a "Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show".

Lumberjack show at a street festival: two men in plaid shirts cut a log with a two-person crosscut saw on a platform, a chainsaw sits on a stump, and a crowd watches; a black banner reads PAUL BUNYAN.

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

Food truck with bright yellow and orange signs reading FUNNEL CAKES, ICE COLD DRINKS, DEEP FRIED MUSHROOMS, NACHOS, FRESH CUT FRIES and RIBBON FRIES, with a menu board, while customers line up at the service window.

Chili cheese fries in a paper liner with a white plastic fork, topped with ground beef chili and melted yellow cheese sauce.

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.

Styrofoam takeout container with three compartments: creamy coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, and pulled pork topped with barbecue sauce, with a white plastic fork resting on the 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 · Oct 26, 2021

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 · Oct 26, 2021

jtbell said:

And a "Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show".

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

jtbell · Oct 26, 2021

berkeman said:

Does he 'wrassel' something short?

They should at least have some beavers in there.

Mini road trip: fall festival fun

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