North Florida and South Georgia have lots of unique small-town celebrations. But few have attracted the worldwide attention of Sopchoppy, Florida's yearly Worm Gruntin' Festival. This year's theme is "What a Wonderful Worm" and event coordinator Nancy Paul says a new heritage village this year will provide festivalgoers with an immersive trip back in time.
"This year we're trying to bring back a lot of the special things that folks in Sopchoppy did to survive back in the day when the railroad was pulled by mules and people grunted their own worms and made their own cane syrup and grits and honey."
Since the festival began 26 years ago, a local lady has been named "queen" of the happening. Paul says such royalty has always had a strong connection to both the community and the festival's authentic origins.
"The first queen fed her 11 children by grunting worms. So it's an industry you know you had to catch fish or make their own food, so it's very important that our young folks know that and one of the things they get to do is grunt their own worms."
The 24th Annual Sopchoppy Worm Grunting Festival starts at 7 a.m. Saturday morning with the Wiggle Worm Fun Run and goes on into the evening hours with the Worm Grunters' Ball.
Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin' Festival | Sopchoppy, FL (wormgruntinfestival.com)
