The Ithaca Festival is the largest festival in Ithaca, occurring each year the weekend after Memorial Day, from Thursday to Sunday.
Thursday evening starts off the festival with the Parade. Now, this isn't your typical parade--consider some of the participants: The Chainsaw Marching Band and the Volvo Ballet. How to explain the latter? Let's just say it involves Volvo cars wearing tutus and we'll leave it at that.
The rest of the festival is your typical arts festival with all types of crafts for sale. There are also performers of various types, including musicians, poets, comedians, and acrobats. And of course there's festival food!
The Thursday through Saturday parts of the festival occur in downtown Ithaca on the Commons, whereas Sunday's festivities take place in Stewart Park. Admission to everything is an Ithaca Festival Button for $5.
From journal What to do for 5 Hours or 5 Years in Ithaca