Amish buggies, the smell of buttery corn on the cob, and funnel cakes all give the warm central Indiana fall a unique midwestern, or hoosier charm, that attracts visitors from all over to the region.
\n*Rockville Indiana, the county seat of Parke County is and has been the epicenter of the 10-day Covered Bridge Festival, and the \u201cCovered Bridge Capital of the World\u201d every October since 1957. However, this county-fair type atmosphere spills out over the other three towns in Parke County, who also have vendors and local history within minutes of each other for visitors to visit. All while driving scenic country roads full of fall color, through the iconic bridges on the way to their next destination.
\n2016 marks the 60th year of this Indiana tradition, however visitors who have been coming for generations won’t notice much change from this October to the first festival in 1957.
\n\u201cThe familiarity is something that attracts visitors\u201d, said Kelsey Canfield, Parke County Incorporated Executive Secretary. \u201cPeople like to come to our festival and see that in our fast paced world, there are somethings that hardly ever change\u201d.
\n\u201cThe festival includes the work of many local artists from wood carvers, to painters who all create pieces inspired by the bridges,\u201d said Canfield.
\n\u201cGrowing up around these bridges, creeks, and hollows is something that I took for granted, until I moved to Indianapolis,\u201d said Missy Foxworthy a local watercolor artist. \u201cBut ever since coming back from college I have a new appreciation for how beautiful our county is.\u201d
\nParke County has limited lodging for the large numbers of tourists that come each fall. So if you can\u2019t find a room at one of the few hotels in Rockville the best option is the Turkey Run State Park lodge just a few minutes outside of Rockville.
\nHowever Turkey Run State Park also books fast, as of 2016 rooms are booked for next years festival one year and for some rooms two years in advance.
\n\u201cWe get more calls than any other park in the state,\u201d said Tara Puckett a clerk at Turkey Run. \u201cI would say almost 80 percent are inquiries about these ten days.\u201d
\nThe state park offers hiking, horseback riding, and canoeing, through the limestone cliffs. The canoe trip even takes you underneath two of the famous covered bridges.
\nIf the outdoors aren’t really your thing, relaxing in front of the fireplace in the great room, while waiting for dinner in the dining room is another popular choice.
\nIf you can’t seem to find a reservation anywhere, or you want to be more in touch with the outdoors campsites are available through the state park.
\nTo book a visit to the \u201cCovered Bridge Capital of the World\u201d during next year’s festival or for more information on lodging, and dining; call (765)-569-5226, or visit www.coverdbridges.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amish buggies, the smell of buttery corn on the cob, and funnel cakes all give the warm central Indiana fall a unique midwestern, or hoosier charm, that attracts visitors from all over to the region. *Rockville Indiana, the county seat of Parke County is and has been the epicenter of the 10-day Covered Bridge Festival, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6868,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6868"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/samfrinkj237\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}