Officer Parrish Osting of the Tipp City Police Dept. and her K-9 partner Pasha greet visitor at the 2022 Mum Festival at the Tipp City Park
Mike Ullery | Miami Valley Today
By Eamon Baird
TIPP CITY — The 63rd annual Tipp City Mum Festival is set to take place at the city park on Sept. 22-24 with plenty of events and activities all weekend. This year’s theme is “Tipp City Library: 100 years of Stories,” in honor of the Tipp City Library’s 100-year anniversary.
The Mum Festival dates to the 1950s when Tipp City’s newly formed chamber of commerce sought a symbol to represent the city. Otto Frings, who had returned from the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan suggested the city honor the chrysanthemum.
At the time, the Spring Hill Nurseries in Tipp City were selling the chrysanthemum at such a large rate that before long, Tipp City became known as the “Mum Capital of the World.”
Jay Taylor, president of this year’s Mum Festival expressed what to anticipate for this year’s event.
“The city park is wall to wall with people and it has a really good family oriented hometown feel,” Taylor said.
The festival starts with the Annual Mum Festival Cruise-In on Friday at 4 p.m. The cruise-in will feature hundreds of classic and muscle cars from almost every automobile era. The cruise-in will be downtown from First Street to Hyatt Street. Food trucks, sidewalk vendors, and Tipp City’s restaurants will be available for festival-goers to enjoy. Merchants and arts and crafts dealers from all over during the festival weekend from 10 a.m. until dark on Saturday and 11 a.m. to dark on Sunday.
Kevin Cox, director of public relations for this year’s festival, estimates between 20 and 30 volunteers will be helping throughout the weekend.
“We consider this Tipp City’s Super Bowl weekend. We try to make sure everybody onboard, whether it be the police or the fire department, knows the city is all onboard, along with all the Tipp City merchants, and anyone involved with the parade fest,” Cox said.
Saturday will start off with the 43rd Annual Run for the Mums, sponsored by Tipp Monroe Community Services. Run for the Mums is a flat terrain 5K race that starts at 8 a.m. in the city park, and the Tipp City Mum Festival and Tipp Monroe Community Services will have multiple prizes and raffles at the finish line. The race is set to run regardless of the weather.
Following the 5K will be the annual Mum Festival Parade featuring bands, floats, classic cars, and more from the local and surrounding areas. The parade starts downtown at 10 a.m. The Mum Festival Parade begins on the corner of Hyatt Street and Parkwood Avenue in downtown Tipp City, travels south, and turns east onto Main Street to travel through Tipp City’s downtown district to finally turn north on Second Street and finish at the entrance to the city park where the main festivities of the Mum Festival will be held.
The Tipp City Mum Festival is partnering with the Boy Scouts of America Troop 586 in offering the opportunity to adopt a mum. The scouts will be painting mums on sidewalks and driveways, which can be sponsored for $15. More information can be found at the Mum Festival website.
Cox wanted to give a special thanks to all volunteers who help with the Mum Festival every year including the Kiwanis Club of Tipp City and this years grand marshals the Tipp City Library.
“We appreciate everything the non-profits and the businesses that help sponsor this festival. We couldn’t do it without them and greatly appreciate them,” Cox said.
For all things Tipp City Mum Festival, visit https://tippmumfestival.org/
