Fall festivals on tap this weekend for Clinton, Little Ponderosa Zoo

October 2, 2024 by G. Chambers Williams III

Fall festivals should attract thousands of people to downtown Clinton and the Little Ponderosa Zoo & Wildlife Rescue in Dutch Valley this weekend.

For Clinton, the event is the 23rd-annual fall Clinch River Antique Festival, scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

Sponsored by the Historic Downtown Clinton organization, the antique festival will begin at noon Friday (Oct. 4) and run until 8 p.m. On Saturday, it will resume at 9 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Little Ponderosa’s fall festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

That festival is an important fund-raising event for Little Ponderosa, helping the zoo to buy the necessary feed and supplies to keep its animals warm and happy over the coming winter.

Besides the many animals on display both inside and outside the zoo’s buildings, there will be vendor booths set up throughout the property, and several food options to keep visitors fed, including a Kona Ice truck.

Also slated is the third-annual Chili Cook-Off, which allows contestants to enter a crock pot of their favorite chili recipe to vie for prizes. Entry fee is $25, and the money goes to help feed the zoo’s many animals.

As for the Clinch River Antique Festival, it will include live music and other entertainment, street vendors, food trucks and trailers, food demonstrations, and special promotions in Clinton’s downtown stores.

Most events will take place on Main, Market and Cullom streets in the historic shopping district, and Market Street will be blocked to vehicular traffic both days.

More than 90 vendors will be on hand, selling a variety of new and used merchandise, artisan goods, food and more, along with craft and cooking demonstrations and other activities.

“Easily our biggest event of the year, with hundreds of antique vendors lining Market Street, this year will be the biggest yet,” the Historic Downtown Clinton group says on its website. “It’s the perfect way to kick off the fall season.”

Among artisans already signed up for the event are Amanns Gothic, Artworks by K Roberts, Bad Chicks Smithing, Belfire, Briteyes Crafts, Claj Pens, Copper Crafter, Creations by Penelope, Darts Custom, Garden to Gourmet Goodness, Goofy Goat Soap, Gypsy Moon Leather, Handedness, Happy Hollow Photography, Jewelry by Renee, Jodi Hartman Art, Joy Chooser Designs, Just Horsin’ Around, Kitsch Candle & Coaster, Laurel Browning Art, Laurie Latham, Liv’s Stained Glass, Lois Trader Art, Mama Bear Sweet Treats, Open Kiln, Pines & Needles TN, Rabo Design, Renee’s Baked Delights, Retrotherapy, Riverbend Candle Co., Robin Buchanan, Scottish Blessings Farm, Signed Cricket, Simple Wish Creations, SJN Crafts, Spark & Saw Crafts, Spring Street Farm, The Johnston Ventures, The Wonderful Wizard of Art, Thoughtful Paws Co., Treats & Chill, Tree Lovers Co., and Valerie Pearce Studio.

Food vendors will include Bailey’s Beverage Bar, Doug’s Boiled Peanuts, Drink Smooth, Good Hombres, Hamock’s, Lions Club. Little Bird Macarons, Nut Hut, PopNotch Kettlecorn, Rainbo Funnel Cakes & Shaved Ice, Rhyno’s Roadside, Shirley’s Boy Country Cooking, Traveling Tom’s Coffee, and Waffley Good.

Live entertainment is being lined up for both days, and will include the groups 323 North Main, Fountain City Ramblers, The Singletons, Evie Fiddles, Redd & The Paper Flowers, and The Tenos.

Downtown merchants will be open and stocked with some specials offered just for the festival weekend.

Ample free parking is available in the Commerce Street parking lot, one block west of Market Street.

More information can be found at HistoricDowntownClinton.org.

At the Little Ponderosa, chili cook-off prizes will include an annual family pass to Little Ponderosa, a zoo hoodie, and a zoo T-shirt or hat. Contestants must register in advance.

There will be live music, vendors, face painting, games, pony rides, inflatables, great food, buckets of food to feed the animals, and a gift shop, zoo officials said.

A bounce house and inflatable slide will be set up to keep kids entertained, and pony rides will be available for children, as well.

The zoo’s animals will be the real stars of the show, including plenty of baby goats, many of whom will be roaming the grounds and making friends with the visitors; and Baby Cash, a curious, friendly young camel that the zoo acquired last year as a rescue.

There is a marmoset monkey exhibit, opened last year, that visitors can see, built by zoo directors Cade and Corbin Cox.

Little Ponderosa’s Cookshack will also be open, offering food and ice cream treats.

School buses will be on hand to ferry visitors to the zoo from remote parking areas, and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office will direct traffic and help keep visitors safe.

Tickets for the event may be preordered for $8 each, instead of the regular price of $15 for adults (18-65); and $10 for juniors or seniors (3-17, or 65-and-up). Call 865-457-5536 to order tickets over the phone.

Little Ponderosa is at 629 Granite Road, in the Dutch Valley community of northwestern Anderson County between Clinton and Rocky Top Clinton.

Regular operating days and hours are Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday from noon-5 p.m.