Midwestern Paradise

Depending on the mood, visitors can cruise the winding Ohio on the Casino Aztar Riverboat, visit the rolling trails and scenic views as well as a few exotic animals at the zoo, or explore the past at the Angel Mounds indian excavation site. This city also has shopping galore and some of the best dining of any city in the Midwest. We are also in close proximity (less than an hour's drive) from Holiday World amusement park which is home to the top-rated wooden rollercoaster, The Raven. Visitors can enjoy all this without facing the rat race of the big city. We're the perfect size for a vacation and thats why I call Evansville a 'Midwestern Paradise.'

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Downtown Evansville is an ideal place for walking. Most of the streets are bricked and off-limits to vehicular traffic. Plus walking allows you to window shop along many of the quaint shops and diners which line the walkways of our riverfront. Driving will get you anywhere though. And as long as you avoid the commuting times, the streets are relatively easy to get around.

During the first full week of October don't come near the west side of Evansville unless you are prepared to have fun, eat greasy food, and hear some great entertainment. For the last 75 years, the annual Nut Club Fall Festival has been turning all of Franklin Street into a playground! Reportedly the second largest street festival (right after Mardi Gras) in the United States, the Fall Festival has something for everyone.

Up and down the city sidewalks are food booths created and ran by local non-profit organizations. University clubs, church groups, high school band troops, and others peddle a variety of food from huge brain sandwiches to mouthwatering strombolis. In for a little exotic fare? You might want to try candy bugs (real grasshoppers smothered in chocolate or captured in a clear lollipop), ostrich burgers, alligator gumbo, or a walking taco. Of course the corn dogs, cotton candy, carmel apples, and cider help to give you the true atmosphere of autumn.

Besides the bountiful food are the rides! Scary rides, fast rides, kiddie rides, haunted house rides: we have them all. Ticket prices are also relatively inexpensive. On Wednesday and Thursday a bracelet is offered for $15 which entitles the wearer to unlimited rides all night long!

If that's not enough, you can enjoy live entertainment every evening as well! While some of the competitions are a bit cheesy (junior high tug-of-war and talent show), they will give you a little of the local flavor. In addition, local bands play every night. On Saturday, the festivities begin with the pet parade which showcases cute kids and their even cuter animals, then winds down with a real parade at dusk.

While none of the booths at the festival seel alcohol, many of the pubs along Franklin Street open their doors to customers who want something a little stronger than cider to accompany their tenderloins and cheese sticks.

There are no lodgings nearby, but some very nice accomodations can be find about fifteen minutes away in either direction.

If you've never experienced a street festival, you don't know what you're missing. We might not have half-naked women throwing beads around, but we do have a lot of midwestern enthusiasm to share with you!