Once a year, people park on a half-mile stretch on US-441, both sides of the road brimmed with vehicles, and begin the walk to Micanopy.
Micanopy’s Fall Festival always lands on the Florida vs. Georgia football rivalry weekend. This year, the event celebrated its 50th year. From Saturday to Sunday, 250 vendors filled Northeast Cholokka Boulevard as attendees packed streets, alleys and sidewalks.
“It’s family oriented. It’s for everyone,” said Tami Dixon, the 63-year-old president of the Miccanopy Fall Festival Committee. “There’s a lot of booths for children, little arts and crafts, and so it’s just a time that families can get out.”
For Micanopy, a small, historic town with a population of just over 600, this event is one of the largest of the year. Crowds of thousands visit to shop for handmade items like jewelry, paintings, woodwork, plushes, bags and windchimes.
People also sold plants, including a booth just for bonsai trees. An abundance of food options ranged from sweet treats to fully cooked meals.
The Fall Festival Committee began planning the event in February. The festival operates under 12 nonprofit organizations. After the festival, the money left over is divided between the organizations.
“Every committee is amazing. They put so much time and effort in this,” Dixon said. “It’s because they love their community, they love the people here and it’s just their home.”
Every year, the committee sells a T-shirt specific to the event. This year, the shirts sold out before noon on Saturday. The T-shirts date back all the way to the first ever Micanopy Fall Festival.
Dixon said she was sent the first year T-shirt and was able to have it at the event this year. Apart from holding it for pictures, she kept the shirt safely stowed in a bag near the information booth.
Micanopy Gold, a condiment business that made its festival debut 29 years ago, continued the tradition by returning this year. Jon Allen and his parents started the business by selling hot sauce, and it’s now evolved, offering salsa and marinated garlic.
Sheri Allen, Jon’s daughter, has watched the festival expand since she was a child. She grew up in Micanopy and now works for the condiment company, which her father and grandparents created. She hopes the business will continue generationally within the family.
“We stay real local, so people who don’t come here or don’t live right around the area, they’ll come specifically for this, because they don’t live closer to the stores that we sell in,” Sheri said.
Cathy Wallace, owner of Cathy Wallace Designs, travels from Clearwater every year to work the event. She sells sewing and embroidered items at her booth, which is filled with quilts and sewn children's clothes. Her quilts have detailed designs that paint a picture, like a forest with animals.
“I like this area, so I come up, and I camp and at the same time do the shows,” Wallace said.
Since she retired last year, she’s had more time to do shows, she said. Not having to worry about conflict with a work schedule gives her the time to express her hobby. She plans on coming back to Micanopy in the years to come.
Contact Teia Williams at twilliams@alligator.org Follow her on X @teia_williams.
Teia is a general assignment reporter for Metro. She is also a second semester journalism transfer student from Daytona State College and served as Editor-in-Chief for In Motion, DSC's student newspaper. When she's not writing, Teia can be found reading, going to concerts, at the beach and talking about her favorite artists.
