Travel

Seven Delightfully Odd Winter Festivals

Southern towns beat the winter blues with these wacky celebrations
A white squirrel
In Brevard, North Carolina, a white squirrel predicts the weather on February 2.

We’re not saying ice sculptures are all the way out, but giant outhouses attached to skis are definitely in. When the temperature drops, cabin fever sets in and the fun heats up at these quirky winter festivals across the South.

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White Squirrel Day

Brevard, North Carolina

February 2

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A post shared by White Squirrel Institute (@thewhitesquirrelinstitute)

While everyone else is watching groundhogs, residents of Brevard stare with bated breath at a small white rodent known as Pisgah Penny. In a swift movement to the left or the right, the squirrel predicts the winter weather. But Penny goes a step beyond her prognosticating counterparts when she also predicts the winner of the Super Bowl. Penny, who assumed forecasting duties several years ago from her late uncle Pete, takes the stage annually at a local community center, where visitors can mingle with fellow white-squirrel lovers while they await their potentially frigid fate.


Great Outhouse Races

Sapphire, North Carolina

February 15

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A post shared by Sapphire Area Winter Sports (@skisapphirevalley)

This North Carolina showdown brings new meaning to the term Porta Potti. Up in the snowy slopes of Ski Sapphire Valley, riders perched in privies glide down the mountain. Teams of three push and steer the homemade outhouses, which are attached to skis, and visitors get to take in all the action from the sidelines (and enjoy food, drinks, and music).


George Washington’s Bathtub Celebration

Berkeley Springs, West Virginia

March 1-31

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A post shared by Berkeley Springs, WV (@berkeleyspringswv)

Visitors to West Virginia can enjoy the winter the way a teenage George Washington used to roughly 275 years ago: by taking a dip in warm springs. The annual George Washington’s Bathtub Celebration is extending its usual weekend festivities to the entire month of March, inviting visitors to wade in the roughly 74-degree natural mineral spring water.


Gravy Cup

Louisville, Kentucky

March 1

Two women, sitting at a table, holding gravy samples
Judges at The Gravy Cup.
photo: The Gravy Cup
Judges at The Gravy Cup.

Everything’s good as gravy at this Kentucky festival where thirty amateur and professional chefs go head to head to make their best rendition of the sauce in traditional, nontraditional, and vegetarian categories. Visitors can warm themselves up from the inside out as they taste and rank their favorite gravies. And of course, no gravy would be complete without an accompanying biscuit, which festivalgoers can pair with the gravies of champions.


World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Hot Springs, Arkansas

March 17

Three men, dressed as leprechauns, stand outside for the parade
Parade patrons dress as leprechauns for the festivities.
photo: Visit Hot Springs
Parade patrons dress as leprechauns for the festivities.

When the Guinness overfloweth, residents of and visitors to Hot Springs take a break to walk 0.01 miles in the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Since its inception in 2004, the parade has attracted tens of thousands of visitors, hundreds of Elvis impersonators, and dozens of celebrities. Each year, a celebrity host kicks off the parade: This year, as his own iconic clock ticks, so does the countdown for Flavor Flav to grace the streets of Hot Springs for the 2025 festivities.


Gasparilla Pirate Fest

Tampa, Florida

January 25

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Even though Florida isn’t known for its chilly winter temps, Floridians love a reason to celebrate. In January, a parade of pirates known as Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (named after infamous pirate Jose Gaspar, who supposedly left a treasure along Florida’s west coast in the eighteenth century) sails into downtown Tampa. With their grand entrance, the Sunshine State’s favorite scallywags kick off a day of music, food, and partying like a pirate (hopefully minus the scurvy).


Cows Come Home Celebration

Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia

March 1

Cows grazing in a field in front of a gazebo
The Hardman Farm State Historic Site.
photo: Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites
The Hardman Farm State Historic Site.

As winter shows its first signs of appearing, cows at the Hardman Farm State Historic Site move to other pastures so the farm can undergo maintenance. But when frosts begin to dissipate, visitors reconvene at the North Georgia farm to enjoy a day of festivities. The cows, too, trek back to their home pastures but pay no mind to the music and fun. Instead, like all of us, they’re just happy to once again bask in the emerging sun.


Helen Bradshaw, a 2024 intern at Garden & Gun, is a native of Havana, Florida, and graduated from Northwestern University.


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