Each year, the first full weekend in June brings excitement to the small town of Owosso, Michigan: The Curwood Festival!
As a young reader, I remember thrilling to the adventure stories of Jack London. Call of the Wild and White Fang were two of my favorite books in 5th grade. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Michigan had its own conservationist adventure writer, and he actually sold more copies of his books than London back in the day. His name was James Oliver Curwood, and his hometown is none other than Owosso where he actually built a castle in the style of an 18th century French chateau. Ooh, la la!
How I discovered Curwood and the Curwood festival:
In 2022, my sister, Cassandra, got married and moved to the village of Vernon, MI, just a few miles down the road from Owosso. One time while driving through town, her husband, Alden, mentioned that a famous author had once lived in Owosso and even built a castle there. He took us to visit the park where the castle sits and recommended I read some of Curwood's books. About a month ago, I finally read my first Curwood novel: Kazan. It was quite good!
You can check out Kazan from our library as a book, ebook or audiobook!
After reading the book, I decided to research the author. That's when I discovered the existence of the festival. I asked My sister and brother-in-law about it, and they mentioned that they had attended briefly last year, but the kids were too young to really enjoy it. About the same time, my older nephew became interested in attending a carnival. We decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to check out the festival together, so that's what we did.
View of the Shiawassee River near Curwood Castle where the festival is held every year.
Festival Day!
The festival is a four-day event. We attended on Saturday, June 6th. As soon as we arrived, we could see people lined along the street for the parade. Normally, there are two parades during the festival, but due to the rain the day before, the Kids in Curwood Country Parade was combined with the Heritage Parade. We decided to take advantage of the shorter lines for the rides during the parade, so Alden and my older nephew viewed the event from the Ferris wheel while Cassandra, my younger nephew, and I watched the festivities from a shady area nearby.
Several of the floats were themed for America's Semiquincentennial.
After enjoying the rides for an hour or so, we noticed the kids beginning to wilt from the heat, so we headed across the bridge toward the castle for some ice cream. Along the way, we browsed various stalls selling crafts and food trucks laden with delicious fare from local restaurants. There was even a book tent that was selling first editions of Curwood's novels!
I was tempted to check out some of these first editions, but we were on a mission!
After getting ice cream (a root beer float in my case), we headed back to the carnival for one last ride on the Ferris wheel. Cassandra and I bought tickets and took the little guy back up so that we could enjoy the spectacular view for ourselves this time.
The view of the midway from the Ferris wheel.
Of course, we barely scratched the surface of what this fun little festival has to offer. There is also a Rubber Duck Derby, several runs (half marathon, 10k 5k, and Fun Run), a flapjack breakfast, River Daze races (canoe, kayak, and raft), a Euchre tournament, and even a Curwood Dog of the Year contest! If you are interested in finding out more, be sure to visit the festival website. Hopefully, I will see some of you next year!