This post documents my experience on September 29, 2012.
Originally founded as Tippecanoe City in 1840 (until the US Postal Service abbreviated the city name to prevent confusion with Harrison County’s Tippecanoe), Tipp City owed a lot of its early growth to the Miami and Erie Canal. The town was a stopping point for canal boat men and they found plenty of ways to spend their money in Tipp City’s red light district and the various bars.
But by the 1850’s, canal transportation started to slow as trains became popular. And, by the time 1913 rolled around, it would only take a flood to finish canal transportation in Ohio for good.
All seemed lost for Tipp City until the construction of US-25 and I-75 helped the city grow once again (sans the red light district), truly finding itself blossoming in 1959…
…with a Mum Festival.
Set in Tipp City’s City Park…
…vendors were lined along the park’s pathways…
…offering crafts…
…wallets…
…colorful sweaters…
…locally made liqueurs (Buckeye Distillery)…
…aprons (I think)…
…and video cassettes.
There were plenty of vendors…
…although mostly with flea market appeal…
…which is why I was also glad that there were mums.
Mums were sold mostly at park corners where there was more space…
…sometimes divided by type…
…and sometimes by price (where you see I missed out on the $5 mums).
And although Tipp City’s festival didn’t match Barberton’s creative usage of mums at their festival…
…I was happy to see mum-decorated booths…
…condiment tables…
…and full-out displays.
In terms of entertainment…
…the park offered a great playground for kids…
…and the festival converted this fenced-in court…
…to an inflatable paradise.
Adults, meanwhile, could enjoy musical entertainment…
…thanks to the impressive Lauren Kelly.
I will also say that I was pretty impressed with the food.
With a great amount of food vendors scattered about the park, mostly offering your basic festival fare, there were some more interesting selections…
…such as the Chuck’s Food booth…
…with his great-looking turkey legs…
…freshly baked selections from Dayton’s Our Daily Bread Co…
…the Boy Scouts‘ apple or peach cobbler…
…and the Fire Department’s ever-popular 25-cent waffles…
…which shouldn’t be missed.