HEAR YE! HEAR YE!

· THE 67th ANNUAL · OTTERLING COUNTY · COVERED-BRIDGE FESTIVAL · INDIANA · OCT 11–13 ·
018%
Awwwwwwright awwright awright folks gather 'round gather 'round we got the SIXTY-SEVENTH annual now sixty-SEVEN do I hear sixty-EIGHT next year YES SIR YES MA'AM we do — three full days of corn-smoke and fiddle-wax under the big tin sky of OT-ter-ling County, IN-DI-AN-A, home of the only sycamore in three counties been struck by lightning twice on a Tuesday — tap a booth on the map, hover it, click it, the Crier'll tell you what's cookin', what's hollerin', what's shootin' off sparks —
PINEWHISTLE BRIDGE (no. 4) no. 7 no. 11 (hides) MAIN ST. (closed to autos by ordinance) N PIE TENT FIDDLERS GOATS QUILT BARN KIDS' ZONE CIDER HISTORIANS RAFFLE THE GRANDSTAND
CLICK A BOOTH ON THE MAP Tap any building, tent, or pen and the Crier'll holler what's inside — hover with a mouse to peek, click to make it stick. Eleven bridges in this county, friend; the eleventh is real, it just doesn't sit still for a photograph.

SCHEDULE

  • FRI 5pm — Ribbon-Cuttin' & Caterwaul
  • FRI 7pm — Husband-Hollerin' Trials
  • SAT 8am — Sunrise Pancakes (kraut optional)
  • SAT 10am — The Parade (see banner up top)
  • SAT 2pm — The Goat Coronation
  • SAT 5pm — The Pie Hearing
  • SAT 8pm — Square-Off Square Dance
  • SUN 11am — Hymn & Hum on the Bridges
  • SUN 3pm — Closing & Cleanup Brigade

PARADE ORDER

  1. The Mayor (in a buggy, waving big)
  2. Sheriff Lonnie & the Reserve Deputy
  3. Otterling High Marching Band
  4. Float: "Greetings From The Bridges"
  5. The Eleven Bridge Wardens, on foot
  6. Pinewhistle Ladies' Auxiliary
  7. Float: "Goat Coronation, In Effigy"
  8. Tractor Brigade (no honking till First St.)
  9. 4-H'ers & their animals
  10. Fiddlers, walking & playing
  11. Caboose: Old Don the Mule (23 yrs running)

PRIZE CATEGORIES

  • SQUASH: largest, by circumference
  • SQUASH: heaviest (separate ribbon, do not mix)
  • SQUASH: best resemblance to a county supervisor
  • FIDDLE: speed
  • FIDDLE: sweetness
  • FIDDLE: made the most people cry
  • QUILT: smallest stitches
  • QUILT: loudest pattern
  • HOLLER: carry distance (open field)
  • HOLLER: theatricality (judges' purview)
  • PIE: see notice below ↓

The prize categories number ELEVEN (11) — same as the bridges, same as the wardens, same as the goats in the pen, same as the seconds we stand silent at sundown Saturday. Folks 'round here call it the Otterling Coincidence and the County won't be drawn on it.

APPROVED · COUNTY CRIER

THE PIE QUESTION (ONGOING)

Now folks — the Crier'd be remiss not to speak plain — in the year of our festival 1987 a shoofly pie was entered in the persimmon bracket and awarded a blue ribbon, and in the year 2004 a persimmon pie was entered in the shoofly bracket and likewise awarded a blue ribbon, and so folks the question on the table, the question, the QUESTION is: were these the same pie? Some say YES (one pie, immortal, cycling through the categories every seventeen years). Some say NO (two pies, one rangy old family from down past the Pinewhistle). The Pie Hearing meets Saturday five sharp under the green awning. Bring a fork. Don't bring an opinion you can't defend.