Covered Bridge Festival brings economic boon to Parke County
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(IIB Photo/Alex Brown)
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(IIB Photo/Alex Brown)
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(IIB Photo/Alex Brown)
It’s the largest festival in the entire state. The Parke County Covered Bridge Festival kicked off Friday, and some 1.5 million people are expected to visit the western Indiana county’s nearly 40 covered bridges and sample the food and handcrafted wares from local businesses. The festival, like so many events, was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic and returned on a slightly smaller scale last year, but Parke County Inc. Executive Director Neysa Jones says the event is back in full swing and already running out of space.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Jones said the economic impact is felt throughout the county.
“We have such a high concentration of wonderful vendors here. They’re local people. They’re small businesses, mom-and-pop shops,” said Jones. “So, it really means a lot to them to have this influx in the traffic that we get, and it really is a huge boost to our local economy.”
The festival is centered on the courthouse square in downtown Rockville. Large tents are set up with vendors selling everything from sassafras candy and caramel corn to custom jewelry and Christmas decorations.
For many vendors, the festival is their Black Friday.
“There are businesses here that are stationary businesses that depend on these 10 days to exist the rest of the year. They have business that comes and goes, but these 10 days are the heart of really sustaining them so that they can operate the way that they do.”
Jim Meece is president of the Parke County Board of Commissioners, as well as a vendor himself, and says the festival has been attractive to additional businesses and talent.
“[It’s] really been an avenue, a stream for us of people coming to the county. We’ve had several businesses come as a result of coming to the festival and seeing the area,” said Meece. “That’s really a big thing for us to have people come because we don’t have big industry, but we have quality of life. So we work really hard to make sure the quality of life makes it a place that people come, and now with all the remote working, we have opportunities for a lot of people to come and run their businesses from home as well.”
Meece’s family has been running the sassafras candy stand since the festival’s inception in the 1957. He and his wife have been running it for 40 years, and Meece says the sentimental value it brings to festival goers is rewarding.
“You know, we talk about how long are we going to do this. I mean, it’s still fun, and it’s not like you make a lot of money off of it, but we get people that have been buying from us for 50 years. They come up and say, ‘Oh, we’re so glad you’re still here,’ or ‘We only come to Rockville for this.’ So when you see people coming to the county and you know that you’re part of making them having a good time, it makes you feel good.”
The festival covers the entire county with visitors traveling to towns such as Bridgeton, Mansfield and Tangier, which is home to the popular buried beef.
“They bury the beef in a concrete pit and they slow roast it and make buried beef sandwiches, and it’s just a traditional item that a lot of people know about and come for every year,” said Jones. “What it gives to them to be able to keep their community center open is just invaluable because they couldn’t do that throughout the year.”
In Rockville, local nonprofits also benefit by providing much of the food that is available. From the Rockville Elk’s Lodge selling porkchop sandwiches to the local Amvets selling ribeye steaks to Parke Heritage High School running the BBQ Shack, Jones says the festival is also a key driver for them.
“That’s one thing that is a big tradition around here is the food. When you know that the youth teams will be selling the baked potates and the Elks will have the pork chops and the Amvets will have the ribeyes, these organizations rely on the locals to hold those traditions, and they certainly do.”
Meece says the growth potential for the festival is unlimited.
“As long as we have good quality vendors bringing good quality products, then people are going to come see that.”
The Parke County Covered Bridge Festival runs through Sunday. You can learn more by clicking here .