Sensing the need for a harvest festival, the locals decided about thirty years ago to do something fun in late August and September. Since creativity doesn't seem to be overly prized in local events, it was christened "LaVitsef", or "festival" spelled backward. (Keeping in tradition of North Sioux City's ATOKAD park (Dakota, backwards) and Omaha's AKSARBEN (which is, as you guessed, Nebraska. Backward.)
Traditional harvest activities take place all throughout the festival. Quilt shows, an opening of the Verges Caves (see review in this journal), a Dog Days sale downtown where everyone drags tables of tired merchandise outside and drastically cuts prices in the hopes of finding it a new home.
People flock to these events. (Which, I may add, actually includes a tractor pull some years) Since Norfolk is the "hub town" of all the smaller farm communities around it, the town is flooded with small-townies who take it over for the duration of the festival.
The best part is the annual parade, where most of the organizations in town drag out or create new floats and drive down some of the main streets for a morning. You have never seen as many streamers as are used in this parade -- nor have you heard as many renditions of "Louie, Louie" played by high school bands. People on the floats toss candy to passers-by and those who have crowded to see the show. Parents bring children, some of which join up with the parade as it goes by.
If you're lucky enough to be in town for the festival, do stop and watch. It's a piece of small-town Americana that's all but lost elsewhere.
From journal O Home, Home on the Plains