In Germany the most common kind of party/fair people go to are the (bi-)annual town festivals. The character of a fest is very dependent on the amount of residents from 1,000 to 1,000,000 but the general framework is always the same. You start with just food and drink stalls from the local social associations and restaurants. Bigger ones have carousels up to roller coasters.
I am especially interested in the smaller ones where you just go to eat out and meet the rest of the locals.
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Most towns across the country have something nearly identical to what you described.
We dont do these all too often really the only big one i can think of is the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade
We have county fairs, downtown festivals. Wine and food festivals on the island.
The city I’m living in now doesn’t have any large dedicated festivals for the whole city that I know of, but there are countless small festivals and events going on here.
Last weekend I went to a Fall Festival at the Japanese Garden here.
My neighborhood has outdoor gatherings and little festivals and movie showings every couple weeks and anyone can come.
Every weekend our baseball team would have a firework display after their games, and I think there were at least 4 ‘official’ 4th of July displays in different parts of the city.
There’s a few big Halloween balls and dances coming up soon.
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Similar to what you said, there’s food and drink vendors. Often other local businesses will set up booths to advertise.
Haven’t seen any traveling rides or roller coasters in this city, but my last one had a carnival come through every year.
I’d say many/most towns and cities have at least a 4th of July (Independence Day) event for citizens. Others might also have other things like parades or events for things like Veterans’ Day. We also have things like county or state fairs which are quite common and which are more similar to what you describe with booths, food, rides, concerts, rodeos, etc. Heres info on the one we just had a month ago.
https://www.thefair.com/washington-state-fair/
Some small towns and smaller cities will have a Festivala with vendors, shows and sometimes a parade.
Where I live we have music Festivals, ethnic cultural festivals, lgbtq Festivals, blueberry festivals, beer festivals, wine festivals. There are more I can’t think of at the moment.
I fondly remember these festivals from when I lived in Europe and my short answer is yes.
Long answer is that these festivals are often connected with some other kind of observation. Many times they are connected to a church (particularly a church linked a specific ethnic group) or a social club. So in the Northeast and Upper Midwest there are often festivals specifically focused on German or Greek or Italian or Lebanese or Polish or Portuguese or Puerto Rican or Romanian or Ukrainian food and culture etc…. The bigger versions of these will definitely have carousels and roller coasters. I grew up going to a lot of these and they are lot of fun.
In smaller towns there is often an annual event that has a cute and weird focus. Some cute examples from here in Tennessee.
Mule Day: [https://www.columbiatn.com/629/Mule-Day](https://www.columbiatn.com/629/Mule-Day)
RC and Moon Pie Festival: [https://bellbucklechamber.com/rc-cola-moonpie-festival/](https://bellbucklechamber.com/rc-cola-moonpie-festival/)
These types of events are kind half tourist attraction/half local booster gathering and are really worth someone’s time if they want a view into small town life in the US.
County fairs, state fairs, traveling carnivals/circuses, Renaissance faire, we have a lot. Usually they run once a year in the spring or fall.
Very common, at least here in New England.
There are town fairs and county fairs.
Here’s an example of one small (?) city – 40K town events.
Summer Stroll, June Downtown events where they shut down the streets and restaurants and shops spill out to the streets and stuff like games, bouncy houses, food trucks)
Starburst, June (festival, with music at night and fireworks)
Ladies Night Out, August Street shuts down and drinks are served and bocce, etc
Kids Day, August What you’d expect. Downtown shuts down street.
Halloween Parade October What you’d think. Candy, food truck, drinks, parade
Festival of Trees, December. Dozens of trees are decorated and it’s a contest
Winter Stroll, December. Downtown shuts down street and shops and restaurants are open.
Mayor dresses in costume, roast chestnuts on the street and gives them out. Santa, sleigh, hot cider, etc.
Also weekend events at the town orchard (town owns it and people volunteer). All fall there are festivals and a brewery truck and food trucks, etc.
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There’s all kinds of summer fests but fall is all about the town harvest kind of festivals.
In my town they do them fairly often. Just 2 weeks ago we had a salsa festival. lol
Most of the small towns near me hold at least one annual festival. There are food stalls (and in some cases alcohol), arts & crafts, and simple kids rides\etc. I have been to quite a few, and they are generally quite fun.
Sounds like you’re describing our county or state fairs. Indiana’s state fair has carnival rides, various animal exhibitions, food from local vendors as well as carnival food, entertainment and a lot more.
Indiana’s state fair goes for about two weeks every August
If I had to list every individual festival central Indiana has we’d be here all day. Summer and into the fall is just constant events one after another. My town closed down our Main Street last weekend for a concert, two weeks before that was Porchfest, the week before that was Mooncake Festival, and so on.
All the time. All kinds of festivals from little town festivals in a park to huge music festivals to ethnic festivals to art festivals to food festivals to seasonal festivals. What I’m saying is people like to have a good time.
Some festivals are in smaller towns or cities but still draw visitors from all over the state or region.
Then you also have fairs and the like. County fairs. State fairs. Etc. that will have festivally feels to them.
You’ll find things like a rodeo tend to replace this in rural America and well with aging populations and such, they are getting rarer. Minnesota when I was growing up had lots of little small town festivals and such. Usually themed around local stuff. Like blueberry, Eel pout, potatoes, beans etc.. Typically only once a year.
Most towns will have some kind of annual festival, like a founder’s day celebration, homecoming parade, or July 4th/Memorial Day celebration. Sometimes more than one, if the local tourism board has a healthy budget.
Very common. You can always find some local festival in your town or nearby. Honestly the only reason why I use facebook these days is to find stuff like this.
Some areas have oktoberfest and renaissance fairs. Was in St Charles MO last year for one
My town of ~30,000 has these throughout the year for a week at a time.
The largest is in July and it has a bunch of rides. There’s live bands, food, drinks, and fireworks.
They other notable ones are:
* Oktoberfest with music, food, and imported beer
* Weekend car show and garage sale. You can setup a stall or just browse and chat.
* Fall festival with a catch and release fishing competition and chili cook-off. There’s hay rides and face painting.
In New York, yes quite common. It can be organized by the town, or it can be organized by a church.
Oh it seems like every month there’s some sort of social event.
Very very very common in Michigan. Most towns have at least one fair per year, some have a series of them. It’s part of the charm of summer here. Some are a single day ([The Manchester Chicken Broil](https://48158.com/annual-manchester-chicken-broil/)), a weekend ([Fennville Goose Festival](https://www.fennvillegoosefestival.com/)) or even a week long ([Fowlerville Fair](https://www.fowlervillefamilyfair.com/)) drawing major music acts.
They’re usually cheap or free admission. Tons of fun, one of the best things you can do if you visit the US.
The small town I live in has the grape festival.
They’re super common depending on where you are in the country. In my region of Louisiana, we have a festival for everything from strawberries or gumbo to a week long international music festival where artists from all over the world come to share their artistry and music. For the latter, we’ve had musicians and artists from as afar as Russia, Zimbabwe, Iceland, Croatia, Argentina, etc.
Pretty common for different towns and neighborhoods to have their own festivals and carnivals throughout the summer. My town has an annual Island in the City carnival for example.
Pretty common. We have an annual rodeo in the winter and Fiesta in the spring here in San Antonio.
I lived in a white trash town for awhile growing up. Crime rates were high and the school sucked, however we had a festival that would come by once a year at the end of summer near the water tower. There would be carnival games, merchandise stands, free toys and candy, jumping castles and slides and also a firework show. It was one of the few things I liked about living there.
My town has an annual arts festival with live music, antique cars, craft booths and food.
We have street festivals in NYC, especially in the warmer months. Also many ethnic/cultural festivals. Otherwise, the really big ones with lots of rides are county and state fairs.
The small town near me has multiple fairs and festivals every year, plus churches or the fire department will put on events as well. There’s a Native American themed fair/ cultural education kinda thing, a street fair and fireworks for independence day, a world tour of chocolate, a whiskey festival, Halloween parade, light up night, a horse parade, an antique fire truck muster, plus the farmers market in the city park will usually have concerts as well.
The small town near me does a craft and food thing once a month. It’s not very big but fun.
My county has a few faires. My city itself has a couple a year but none to large.
We have an apple and a corn festival nearby. Mostly just food vendors but animal sales, auctions, entertainment like bands or races or whatever.
Chainsaw artists… stuf like that
Pretty common. Each little town has their thing and at least once a year shows it off. Back in Central New York where I’m from there were rotating Field Days. Which are just basically carnivals, but they were all fun. You find similar festivals all through out the country.
Towns in my area have town and county fairs, anniversary festivities that last a couple days, holiday festivals, festivals celebrating local history, etc.