The Blueberry Festival: It’s a Berry Good Time!

Jessica Nunemaker — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:30:43 +0000

The end of summer may pass by with little notice in some parts of the world…but not in Plymouth, Indiana who celebrates with The Blueberry Festival! Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of one of the top festivals in the Midwest with its annual Blueberry Festival.

The Plymouth, Indiana Blueberry Festival: Fried Veggies!

The Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, Indiana

Attracting hordes of people from states around, The Blueberry Festival, or Blueberry, is a major draw to little Plymouth.

Sure, I’d heard about how massive and wonderful the three days of Blueberry was, but didn’t get a chance to see for myself until last year. Just…wow!

Blueberry Festival Food

Bring on the deep-fried, artery-clogging goodness! Find everything fried and fabulous…and even a little strange. I mean, do we really need fried candy bars?

There are many, many food vendors: German, Polish, Italian, Greek, Mexican. You won’t be bored. But the star of the festival is everything blueberry!

A Blueberry Lover’s Dream Come True

The Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, Indiana: Steak and Cheese

What blueberry goodies did I see this year?

Blueberry-topped ice cream sundaes, blueberry milkshakes, blueberry cheesecake, blueberry cider slush, blueberry fudge, blueberry cobbler, pie, and more! It’s a blueberry bonanza!

After walking through the wall of tempting food vendors, you’ll start getting into the crafts, woodworking, and even blacksmith vendors.

This isn’t one of those things where you go in expecting to be amazed and instead it’s a disappointing bunch of yard sale cast-offs.

Sure, the guys selling “buy one get two free” are around, but so are antiques and art and loads of handcrafted goodness. I found a snazzy red lamp for $10!

Things to Do at The Blueberry Festival

There’s games, rides, a camp of Civil War Re-enactors, and a good selection of rides for kids. This time around they had a small roller coaster and the giant slide. There was even a fun house and circus train, just to name a few.

Blueberry Ice Cream at the Plymouth, Indiana Blueberry Festival

Probably one of the best and most unique attractions of The Blueberry Festival is The Hot Air Affair, the hot air balloon event. This was also the site of one of my first major writing gigs.

This annual Indiana town to-do attracts hot air balloon enthusiasts from all over the country and frequent launches just add to the whole atmosphere.

Little ones in particular think it’s pretty incredible. But then again, so do I.

A Tip from little Indiana

If you get a chance to go next year, take it! Here’s a time-saving tip from me: Park at Plymouth High School. All proceeds go to various school clubs and you get a free ride on The Tram.

Blueberry is big enough without adding a ton of extra walking just to get to the entrance!

Find Plymouth, Indiana Blueberry Festival photos and other pictures in Plymouth, Indiana on my Flickr photostream.

Plymouth, Indiana in Marshall County

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Plymouth, Indiana: Picture Perfect

Jessica Nunemaker — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:30:41 +0000

By now, it’s probably pretty obvious that I love Victorian era homes and shops and the small town of Plymouth, Indiana certainly fits the bill!

Plymouth Indiana, Downtown

With bright colors and the unexpected flourish, this is a particularly handsome downtown. Especially when you include the stately courthouse.

Downtown Plymouth, Indiana

Park the car and walk around not only the downtown, but a chunk of Michigan Street as well. This long main drag is lined with amazing home after amazing home.

Plymouth, Indiana has a rather large number of shops for a small Indiana town. There’s even a neat old-fashioned movie theater. Clothing, antiques, and one of a kinds interrupted by the occasional café, restaurant, pub, or office.

Playtime!

Once the shopping is out of the way, reward the kiddies with a trip to Centennial Park. There are a mess of paved running/biking/roller blading trails and a huge wooden playground that can’t be beat.

It has lots of creative nooks, crannies, and bridges for kids to climb up and crawl through — there’s even a jail! I love it! I mean, the kid loves it.

Things to Do in Plymouth

Anyway, Plymouth, Indiana is also home to the world-famous Blueberry Festival (ok, maybe not world famous, but you would think so to hear my husband talk about it!).

The Blueberry Festival does happen to be the largest three day festival in the Midwest, with the biggest craft section I have seen so far.

There are also carnival games, kids rides, and a bunch of those nausea inducing, gravity defying rides for brave souls (yeah, NO). A marathon and hot air balloon events round things out the weekend.

Plymouth Indiana Downtown

Summer Fun

Aside from the Blueberry Festival, the summer brings a nice farmers’ market on River and East Garro.

Choose from locally grown and mostly inexpensive farm fresh produce as well as a smattering of other locally made wares and crafts.

You never know what you are going to find. Tip: Do a walk-through first THEN buy after you have a chance to compare prices and quality!

It’s a really nice looking town. I’m hoping to get back there one of these days and stay in one of the super cute bed and breakfasts. When I do…you’ll be the first to know!

Find more Plymouth, Indiana images and other pictures in Indiana on my Flickr photostream.