GREENFIELD — “There was no doubt about Friday being ‘Riley Day’ in the city schools,” the Daily Reporter wrote in its Oct. 7, 1911 issue. “It was nothing but Riley all day, and the children wish it would come more often.”
While the Riley Festival in its current form would not come into being for another 59 years, 1911 marked the first time that Greenfield residents — and Hoosiers in general — celebrated the birthday of acclaimed poet James Whitcomb Riley. The event was commemorated in schools around the state and in Greenfield, where the poet was driven through downtown and his car was covered with flowers from local children.
“Mr. Riley has been ill, but he is growing stronger all the while, and let us all aid in his recovery by pausing on Oct. 7 to take note of the birthday of this our own poet, who has done so much to make the name ‘Hoosier’ known and loved in many parts of the world,” read a letter sent to school officials at the time asking them to observe the day.
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This year marks the 50th official Riley Festival. A half-century ago, the event was the product of efforts by Greenfield citizens who hoped to transform local traditions into something that could put their town on the map. Today, the event is called the biggest street festival in the state, and starting Thursday evening, downtown Greenfield will be transformed for three days into a festive carnival of food, crafts, music and more.
All of it celebrates the life of the Hoosier Poet, who died in 1916 at age 66 but whose historical influence is still deeply ingrained in the community.
Joannie Bowen, a longtime member of the Riley Festival board and its 1977 general chairman, recalls being approached in the late 1960s by J.B. Stephens, then the superintendent of Greenfield-Central schools, about creating what became the Riley Festival.
At the time, downtown Greenfield merchants had long celebrated what had been variously known as Frontier Days, Sidewalk Days and Riley Days around the poet’s Oct. 7 birthday. Local children also annually brought flowers to Riley’s statue in front of the Greenfield courthouse. But Stephens, Bowen said, had a vision of something larger that could bring the whole county together.
“He said, ‘Joannie, we just need to do something more celebratory for Riley Days.’ And I said, ‘I’ll help you, J.B.,’” Bowen said.
For the first official Riley Festival in 1970, Bowen, Stephens and the other organizers planned events that have endured until today, including the Home Arts Show and the Mayor’s Breakfast. In its first few years, the festival was small enough that Bowen and Stephens could walk around the courthouse lawn the morning afterward with a trash bag to clean up the debris.
One early festival was disrupted when rain hit during a performance by the community choir. Bowen said Stephens made sure there was a tent for entertainment to perform under the following year, another tradition that has remained the same ever since.
“The early vendors were mostly churches with white elephant sales and stuff like that,” Bowen said. “It grew to where we have dozens of vendors now. The size is unbelievable. We couldn’t have even dreamed of a festival of this size. But our dreams were toward it. We always intended to involve all of the communities (in Hancock County), not just Greenfield.”
The festival’s current board president, Nancy Alldredge, was also recruited by Stephens in the mid-1980s. She became a part-time employee at a time when the festival was rapidly growing.
“We thought we were going to need more room, but we didn’t know how to do it,” Alldredge said. “So we decided we were going to see about closing State Road 9.”
The Indiana Department of Transportation granted permission to do so. With that additional space secured, and with support from the City of Greenfield, the festival has continued to grow.
Bowen said Stephens, who died in 2008 at age 100, was always the festival’s strongest advocate.
“I stood last year at the Memorial Building and I thought, ‘Oh, J.B. would love to see the people down this street.’ We are living his dream,” Bowen said.
Tom Billings, the president of the board of directors from 2011-12, said the board tries to implement new ideas for the festival each year. During his tenure, the festival rented space for the first time for a “Fun Zone” containing games and activities aimed at children. The Fun Zone will return this year, located as usual at State and North streets.
Billings said the Riley Festival has always provided downtown merchants with an opportunity to reach a larger audience, as well as giving Greenfield an important element of its identity as a city.
“I think it’s important for the community,” Billings said.
Rachel Sellmeyer has been a vendor at the festival for over 20 years. She sells hand-sewn items, including purses and American Girl Doll clothing, and she said what keeps her coming back are the opportunities to socialize with her fellow vendors and festival patrons.
“I enjoy watching the people go by. I enjoy talking to people,” Sellmeyer said.
Many of the longest-term vendors are organizations, like the Westland Friends Ladies Guild. Brigette Jones, a current participant in the booth, said the Westland Friends Church has likely had a presence at the festival since it began.
For the rural Quaker church, participating in the Riley Festival every year helps with community outreach as well as giving members of the Guild an opportunity to show off homemade food items and crafts, Jones said. All proceeds from the booth go toward Ladies Guild missions, like supporting families in need or local charitable organizations.
“It’s an all-church project,” Jones said. “This is our biggest fundraiser.”
As another part of its celebration, the festival will provide free tours of the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home and Museum. Visitors will be able to pick up free tickets at the festival’s information booth for tours that will start at the beginning of each hour from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 2-4 p.m. Sunday.
The Riley Home and Museum is at 250 W. Main St.
Riley Home coordinator Stacey Poe said the home, where a celebration of Riley’s birthday is held each year, has had a long, positive working relationship with the festival.
Poe said the local fame of Riley, and the annual celebration of his birthday in various forms, have endured for so long because the topics he wrote about were both local and universal.
“He’s our local celebrity. Not every community has that,” Poe said.
As a longtime Riley Festival veteran, Alldredge said that what keeps her coming back every year are the positive relationships she has with others on the board as well as the sense of pride in the Greenfield community that the festival inspires.
“When you look out and see that the street is packed with people, it makes you feel good that you had a part in bringing all those people into your community,” Alldredge said. “The hotels are filled, it’s good for the community to have people come in and see it and think, ‘I might like to live here. I might like to start a business here. It’s a good feeling to see all those people in the street during the festival.”
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2019 marks the 50th official celebration of the Riley Festival, but the Greenfield tradition of celebrating James Whitcomb Riley’s birthday dates back over a century. This timeline features some of the significant milestones in the creation of the modern celebration.
1911 — Indiana’s State Convention of Literary Clubs observed “Riley Days” for the first time in recognition of the state’s most famous poet. Gov. Samuel Ralston also issued a state proclamation celebrating Riley Days.
1912 — Riley’s 63rd birthday was recognized with a special celebration in Greenfield, attended by admirers from all over the country. Schoolchildren lined the street as a car carrying Riley passed by and covered the car and the poet with flowers. Riley is quoted as having said, “Heaven will indeed have to surpass itself to find more than I have here.” The parade tradition continued throughout the last years of Riley’s life and after his death in 1916.
1925 – The parade tradition was revitalized as approximately 4,000 people, including 3,000 children, marched from downtown to the newly dedicated Riley Park. Julia Riley, the sister of James Whitcomb Riley, was still living and gave tours of the family home.
1949 — The Riley Old Home Society celebrated the poet’s 100th birthday by constructing a 77-foot tower covered with flowers and 4,800 square feet of wire mesh. The “Tower of Flowers” was the highlight of that year’s Riley celebration.
1957 – The Parade of Flowers as we know it today was established. The parade was led by the Greenfield High School band. Downtown merchants began setting up stalls to sell their wares during and after the parade; vendors wore costumes, and downtown buildings were decorated. During this period, the celebration was variously known as Sidewalk Days, Frontier Days and Riley Days.
1970 – The Riley Festival Association was established to plan more formal festivals. The first Mayor’s Breakfast was held at the Cattlemen’s Restaurant with Mayor Berry Hurley presiding.
1974 – For the first time, the Riley Festival had an official theme – “The Old Swimmin Hole,” after the first poem that brought Riley major success. (The poem is the theme of this year’s event as well.)
1982 — State Road 9 was closed for the first time to accommodate the growing event. (Organizers say it’s believed that the festival is the only one in the state in which two highways — State Road 9 and U.S. 40 — are closed for and event.) The Riley Festival became incorporated, and a constitution and bylaws were adopted.
2011 — The James Whitcomb Riley Festival Association Educational Arts Partnership-Grant was started. In an effort to give back to the community, it was decided to offer this grant to schools to further the visual and performing arts in Hancock County Schools.
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