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About This Festival

Previous Location

McLoud Veterans Memorial Park|McLoud Veterans Park Event Grounds, McLoud, OK | Map

Everfest's Take

From the Organizer

The McLoud Blackberry Festival began in the 1940's as a celebration of the end of harvest season for the local cash farm crop, blackberries. Since harvest season was completed just before July 4th, when a community picnic had been held since the town was founded June 21, 1895, the two were combined to create the annual Blackberry festival. The town received national media coverage in 1949 when the Blackberry Growers Association and the McLoud Chamber of Commerce sent a crate of berries via overnight air freight to President Harry Truman. He said they were the bested he had ever tasted and then declared McLoud to be the "Blackberry Capital of the World". The association disbanded in 1963 due to a poor market and farmers moved on to a more lucrative crop. ​While blackberry farming may no longer be the agricultural strength of McLoud, the festival celebrated each year continues to be an exciting event for the city and draws thousands of attendees from across the nation. The McLoud Blackberry Festival is the longest running food-related festival in the state of Oklahoma! Join us for Great Plains carnival rides, a huge parade through downtown, a fantastic fireworks display, live music, craft vendors, food trucks, and of course... everything BLACKBERRY! Enjoy fresh blackberries, blackberry jam, blackberry cobbler, blackberry newberg, blackberry snow cones, blackberry topped funnel cakes, blackberry fried pies, blackberry BBQ sauce, blackberry craft beer, blackberry wine, and SO MUCH MORE!