There’s something about small towns that makes them go big, and that’s especially true when it comes to their festivals. We don’t mean big like flashy or fancy, but big like “let’s get 3,000 people to dress as Smurfs” big—yes, really. Here are fourteen small-town festivals with weird world records. Whether it’s frog legs or racing horses, these local events aren’t trying to be normal. That’s what makes them great and has won them world records.
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Dhanu Jatra in Bargarh, India
Every winter, the whole town of Bargarh drops what it’s doing to become a giant, live-action mythological play—for 11 straight days, it’s all about Lord Krishna & King Kansa. However, people don’t watch the performance from a stage because the entire town turns into the set, with shops & houses becoming part of the show. It covers more than 8 square kilometers, and that’s why it won the Guinness World Record for the biggest open-air theater festival.
Deniliquin Ute Muster in Deniliquin, Australia
Utes (utility vehicles) are those rugged, flatbed pickup trucks that many Australians love, and the town of Deniliquin decided to throw a huge party in their honor. In 2010, they had 10,000 utes, which made it a Guinness World Record for the largest number of utes in one event, with people showing up in blue tanktops (3,500 of them), which somehow became a second record. Add in some live music & massive crowd energy, and you’ve got yourself one seriously Aussie festival.
Nutbush Dance at Big Red Bash, Australia
But that’s not it for the Australians, as way out in the desert, thousands of people showed up just to dance the Nutbush, a line dance—1,719 people lined up and did the whole routine in sync at the Big Red Bash in 2018. It’s now in the record books, thanks to one Tina Turner track, with people camping in the middle of the Simpson Desert for days just to be part of it. The organizers had to mark out the exact space for dancers, and yes, they had to check every step before it counted.
Stone Creek Jamboree in Milan, Minnesota
In 2007, a farm in Minnesota became home to the largest potluck on record, with over 880 different dishes, and nobody left hungry. But that’s not all, as the Stone Creek Jamboree is more than a typical festival. There’s no alcohol, but there are two music stages, a bonfire & fireworks. People show up with lawn chairs and homemade casseroles to just enjoy the day—it’s a day of small-town togetherness, with a Guinness record thrown in for flavor.
Smurf Gathering in Landerneau, France
It might be hard to imagine 3,000 people, all painted blue, wandering around a small French town, but that’s what happened in Landerneau in 2025. 3,076 people dressed up as Smurfs in the same place at the same time, and people traveled from all over Europe just to take part. They completed the whole event without breaking the “no other colors” rule, which is how the town won the record for the most Smurfs in one area.
Frog Leg Festival in Fellsmere, Florida
Every January, Fellsmere turns into the frog leg capital of the world, and they fry up around 5,000 pounds of frog legs, plus a few thousand pounds of gator tail for good measure. In fact, there’s so much food that the event has two Guinness World Records, one of which is for being the largest frog leg festival in the world. The whole town gets involved with carnival rides & booths, as well as a full entertainment schedule that includes a frog leg eating contest.
Dachshund Parade in Regensburg, Germany
Regensburg decided they didn’t need a normal parade, but rather, they needed a sausage dog parade, and in 2024, they pulled together 897 dachshunds. These dogs waddled through the streets in formation—some wore little hats, some wore lederhosen, but altogether, they broke the Guinness World Record for the number of dachshunds. The dogs came from 19 different countries, and the event was run by the local Dackelmuseum, while judges were on-site to make sure each dachshund was purebred & parade-ready.
Corn Eating in Eden, New York
In 1978, Luis Pirada managed to eat 18 ears of corn in five minutes at Eden’s Corn Festival, which is about one every 16 seconds. People still talk about it at the festival, and it now draws around 200,000 visitors a year, although nobody’s beaten this record yet. The town has rows of corn booths and a giant corn maze, along with corn-eating contests. There’s also live music & a parade where even the floats are corn-themed.
Caber Toss in Fergus, Ontario
Forget fireworks—Fergus went with flying tree trunks in 2015, when 69 people tossed cabers (a.k.a. giant logs) all at once, setting a world record. The Highland Games include bagpipes and kilts, while the cabers themselves were each over 16 feet long & weighed about 100 pounds. Competitors had to flip them so they landed clean and straight, or it didn’t count, and the whole thing happened in under five minutes.
Spoon Playing in Trowbridge, England
You’ve probably tapped a spoon on a glass once and felt musical, but you probably haven’t taken it to the same extremes that Trowbridge did. In 2006, 345 people played spoons as instruments at the same time, in the same song—the song in question was “Knees Up Mother Brown” and their performance landed them in the Guinness World Book of Records. Everyone brought their own spoons, and a local band kept the beat going loud enough for the whole crowd to follow. It happened at the Village Pump Festival.
Cheese Rolling in Brockworth, England
The English town of Brockworth’s claim to fame is its cheese contest, which involves people chasing a giant wheel of cheese down a hill so steep it’s basically a grassy cliff. Every year, people literally throw themselves downhill after a rolling wheel of Double Gloucester—it’s as chaotic as it sounds, and the festival has been going on since the 1800s. The cheese rolls at speeds over 70 miles per hour, and, currently, the person with the most wins is Chris Anderson, who has 23.
Theatre of Small Convenience in Malvern, England
English people like to keep it weird, and in Malvern, officials took an old Victorian men’s restroom, cleaned it up, added some chairs, and turned it into the world’s smallest commercial theatre. It fits 12 people maximum and is called the Theatre of Small Convenience. They put on real shows as part of their annual festivities, including puppet shows & monologues, as well as a tiny backstage area tucked behind a curtain.
Man vs. Horse Marathon in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales
One day in 1980, someone in Llanwrtyd Wells thought, “I bet a person could outrun a horse over 22 miles,” and then they made a race out of it. Now, humans vs. horses is an annual thing, and although most years the horses win, sometimes, a very determined runner surprises everyone. The first time a human actually beat a horse was in 2004, and the event itself has the record for the longest-running Man vs. Horse Marathon.
World Alternative Games in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales
In the same Welsh town, they had a different weird idea—the World Alternative Games began in 2012, and it’s like a weird version of the Olympics. There’s bog snorkeling and gravy wrestling, with the goal being less about medals and more about who’s willing to get muddy for fun. At the event, Kirsty Johnson won the women’s world record for bog snorkeling at 1 minute 22 seconds, while the male record went to Neil Rutter at the same event. He completed it in 1 minute and 18 seconds.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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