Every April, Pikeville, Kentucky turns into one big party with a zip code. About 7,700 people live there, and over 100,000 pack downtown for Hillbilly Days: six stages, overalls everywhere, and a straight-faced contest for the wildest hillbilly outfit. Two Shriners started it in 1977 to raise money for the Shriners Hospital, and in 2011 alone it raised $72,000.
That's the rule for this video. A Kentucky town earns the title the same way Pikeville did: it takes the humblest thing it's got and throws a party around it, year after year, until the party is who the town is.
We go town by town across the state. Benton's Tater Day, running since 1843. The Banana Festival in Fulton and its one-ton banana pudding. The Country Ham Festival in Cadiz and its 4,000-pound biscuit, with Lebanon's Country Ham Days alongside. Winchester's beer cheese. Paintsville's Kentucky Apple Festival and the Sorghum Festival in West Liberty. The Poke Sallet Festival in Harlan. London's World Chicken Festival and the world's largest stainless steel skillet. The Owensboro farmers who started the Championship Tractor Pull in 1969, and the Warsaw family with 17 wins. Somerset's Dukes of Hazzard jump, the first mud bog at the Whitley County Fair, and Wingo's Mule Day.
And the #1 is the smallest place on the list: 254 people. We're saving them for the very end.
Kentucky Secrets tells the true stories of the Bluegrass State's towns and people. Subscribe for the next one.
Which Kentucky town did we leave off? Name the town and the festival below.
Keep watching for more Kentucky history, Kentucky festivals, Kentucky small towns and the places that shaped the state.
#Kentucky #KentuckyHistory #KentuckyFestivals #SmallTownKentucky #Redneck
Every April, Pikeville, Kentucky turns into one big party with a zip code. About 7,700 people live there, and over 100,000 pack downtown for Hillbilly Days: six stages, overalls everywhere, and a straight-faced contest for the wildest hillbilly outfit. Two Shriners started it in 1977 to raise money for the Shriners Hospital, and in 2011 alone it raised $72,000.
That's the rule for this video. A Kentucky town earns the title the same way Pikeville did: it takes the humblest thing it's got and throws a party around it, year after year, until the party is who the town is.
We go town by town across the state. Benton's Tater Day, running since 1843. The Banana Festival in Fulton and its one-ton banana pudding. The Country Ham Festival in Cadiz and its 4,000-pound biscuit, with Lebanon's Country Ham Days alongside. Winchester's beer cheese. Paintsville's Kentucky Apple Festival and the Sorghum Festival in West Liberty. The Poke Sallet Festival in Harlan. London's World Chicken Festival and the world's largest stainless steel skillet. The Owensboro farmers who started the Championship Tractor Pull in 1969, and the Warsaw family with 17 wins. Somerset's Dukes of Hazzard jump, the first mud bog at the Whitley County Fair, and Wingo's Mule Day.
And the #1 is the smallest place on the list: 254 people. We're saving them for the very end.
Kentucky Secrets tells the true stories of the Bluegrass State's towns and people. Subscribe for the next one.
Which Kentucky town did we leave off? Name the town and the festival below.
Keep watching for more Kentucky history, Kentucky festivals, Kentucky small towns and the places that shaped the state.
#Kentucky #KentuckyHistory #KentuckyFestivals #SmallTownKentucky #Redneck