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We invite you to come and enjoy one of the largest craft festivals in the state of Indiana, with designated areas for food, commercial, flea market booths, and much more. Over 460 exhibitors will be set up on the streets around the 100 year old courthouse. Our event follows many years of traditions in celebrating the birth date of famed "Hoosier Poet" James Whitcomb Riley. The Riley Festival begins every year on the first Thursday of October in beautiful downtown Greenfield Indiana. Residents of Greenfield, Hancock County, and surrounding areas combine their talents and resources to honor the memory of Greenfield's native son. Each year, one of Mr. Riley's poems is selected as the theme for that year's festival. The 2024 theme is “A Barefoot Boy.
The Greenfield Banking Company Entertainment Tent is a showcase for a wide variety of talent that runs Thursday thru Sunday during the festival. The Parade Of Flowers, which has been taking place for well over 65 years, features Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation's elementary students marching downtown to place bouquets of flowers around Mr. Riley's Statue. The statue was placed in front of the courthouse in 1918 and is the focal point of the Riley Festival. Our regular parade will be on Saturday with over 75 units traveling from the high school through downtown to Riley Park.
There are various contests you can enter, such as Photography, Home Arts & Quilt Show, and Little Miss & Mr. Pageant. All entry forms are available here on our website.
James Whitcomb Riley 1849-1916
A barefoot boy! I mark him at his play—
For May is here once more, and so is he,—
His dusty trousers, rolled half to the knee,
And his bare ankles grimy, too, as they:
Cross-hatchings of the nettle, in array
Of feverish stripes, hint vividly to me
Of woody pathways winding endlessly
Along the creek, where even yesterday
He plunged his shrinking body—gasped and shook—
Yet called the water “warm,” with never lack
Of joy. And so, half enviously I look
Upon this graceless barefoot and his track,—
His toe stubbed—ay, his big toe-nail knocked back
Like unto the clasp of an old pocketbook.
20 W. South Street
Greenfield, Indiana 46140
email: jwrileyfestival@outlook.com phone: +1.3174622141