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Turtle Fest graphic, 2023.

Turtle Fest fun continues through the weekend in Perham

By Michael Achterling Jun 16, 2023 | 6:50 AM

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – Turtle Fest, Perham’s annual street and arts festival, is already in full swing, and the events will keep on going all weekend including The Grand Parade which steps off on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.

Nick Murdock, director of the Perham Area Chamber of Commerce, said, while the Chamber hosts the festival, many of the events are run by different community organizations and groups, which makes the festival a true celebration of everything the community has to offer.

“Turtle Fest really comes from a community effort,” said Murdock. “Us at the Chamber, we organize all these things, but all of these events are actually administered by separate groups.”

He added the Chamber just combines all of their great ideas and schedules them into a festival.

One of the Turtle Fest main events are the turtle races, Murdock said. This year, more than 240 competitors raced their slow-moving reptiles in the Wednesday morning turtle races, a tradition of the town festival with the turtle serving as its mascot.

Festival attendees should also be on the lookout for the Turtle Fest Medallion while they are enjoying the food stands and different vendor booths for a chance to win $500 in Perham Chamber Bucks. Clues to the medallion’s location will be posted at noon on Perham.com and the Discover Perham Facebook page.

Murdock also said one of the events his kids look forward to every year is The Grand Parade, and this year’s parade should have about 80 entries of different marchers and floats.

“My kids love the parade,” he said. “We’ve been going to the parade every year since I can remember. We’ve got close to 80 units in the parade this year, which I think is more than we had last year. And it’s just awesome to see the streets lined with people and everybody is entertained and everybody is having a good time.”

Friday’s events are also highlighted by trolley rides, a Rib Fest at Central Market in Perham, a chicken wing eating competition at Pizza Ranch and live music Friday night featuring the Fat Cats.

Murdock said Saturday’s event program will also be packed with entertainment for children and adults of all ages.

“And then getting into Saturday, I mean it just keeps on going,” said Murdock. “The pancake feed at the fire department will start off Saturday. There’s also a 5K and 10K, if you want to burn off some of those pancakes and that starts at 8 a.m. with registration online.”

The all-city rummage sale will also be a Saturday highlight for anyone looking to do some picking, he said.

“Then the big stuff at the end of the day, we’ve got the Street Dance right on Main Street,” said Murdock. “We’ve got Jacked Up coming to entertain the people and, at dusk, the fireworks out at the fairgrounds, so there’s just no shortage of things.”

For a full schedule of Turtle Fest events, visit Perham.com or the Discover Perham Facebook page.

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