Perham's Turtle Fest turns the big 4-0 this year, and the fun is already starting (2024)

PERHAM — It’s that time of year, Turtle Fest is almost here. There’s a lot of events, activities and promotions planned for the festival that runs from Wednesday, June 12 through Sunday, June 16, some of which are already underway.

Now through the end of Turtle Fest, businesses participating in the Perham Event Committee’s Shop Perham promotion are offering customers a chance to win $100 in Perham Bucks for shopping at their stores.

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According to Perham Area Chamber of Commerce Director Mackenzie Blume, participating businesses will have a green bag with a turtle on it at their cashout counter and customers just have to fill out a short form and drop it in the bag to be registered to win. Five winners will be chosen in a drawing on Monday, June 17.

There’s also a coloring contest, sponsored by Sweet Bees Children’s Clothing, running now through June 16. The winner of the coloring contest will also be chosen June 17.

“Participants can pick up a coloring sheet at Sweet Bees, go home, color it and bring it back to Sweet Bees or drop it off at the Chamber of Commerce,” Blume said.

Then on Wednesday, June 12 at noon, the $500 Medallion Hunt begins. The medallion will be hidden under the cover of darkness somewhere inside Perham’s city limits and clues to its location will be announced each day at noon on Lakes 99.5 Radio and on perham.com until the medallion is found.

“The clues are pretty vague at the beginning, and then they get more detailed as they go on,” Blume continued. “Whoever finds it first brings it into the chamber and they win $500. We’ll hide it Tuesday night. We have a special medallion hider and she takes care of where she puts it and she’s the one who writes the clues.”

The infamous Turtle Races also begin on Wednesday at City Hall Park, also known as Turtle Park. Registration for the races starts at 10 a.m. and the races will run from 10:30 a.m to noon. People of all ages are welcome to participate.

There will also be more races held on Friday at the same time and place. Friday’s races will be sponsored by the Perham Events Committee, who will be giving out free goodie bags to the first 300 kids to register.

The event features multiple heats of turtle races and the winners of each heat will compete in the final race. The first, second and third place winners will receive prize bags donated by businesses around town.

“We just paved a nice new circle for the races,” Blume said. “People can bring their own turtle or we have turtles they can use. There’s waves of turtle races and participants will receive a number upon registration so they’ll know when it’s their turn. We will also have trolley rides during the races that will do a little 15 minute historic talk while they ride around town.”

Later on Wednesday, from 3:45-6 p.m. there will be a Bike Rodeo inside the Perham Area Community Center gym. This event offers a chance for kids to practice their bike riding skills, with instruction from police officers and staff.

“They’ll have a little ‘road’ set up so that kids can learn the signs and what side of the road to go on,” Blume continued. “They’re also doing a helmet giveaway and a drawing for kids to win one of the five bikes available. There’s no age limit and participants should bring their own bike, but we will have some on site for them to use.”

On Thursday, United Community Bank will host Music on Main in their parking lot from 6 - 8 p.m. There will be food and drinks available for purchase, but the event will be free to attend and is also listed as family friendly.

The band performing will be Whiskey Business. According to their Facebook page, they are an acoustic cover band formed in May 2017 out of the Perham area who perform a wide variety of music ranging from old country to new age rock and everything in between.

On Friday and Saturday, the Street Fair will be held on the corner of 2nd Avenue Southwest and Main Street from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. There will be food, vendors and a bungee trampoline for attendees to enjoy. The Landmark Liquors Tasting Event, Beer Fest, will also run on Friday from 3-6 p.m. and offers free entry and free samples.

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Following the Beer Fest will be the Grand Parade starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The parade will begin on 1st Avenue just north of 5th Street then it will turn on 3rd Street and run the length of the street down to 8th Street before turning one more time and finishing its route just past 4th Street.

“It’s a very nice parade,” Blume said. “There’s going to be marching bands, we have several businesses that do floats, some mascots and there will be tractors and other machinery. There’s a pretty good variety.”

Then on Saturday morning from 7-11 a.m. the Perham Fire Department will host their annual Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser at the fire station. There will also be a City Wide Rummage Sale all day Saturday, organized by Coldwell Banker. The deadline for entries is June 10 and the finalized map of all the sales around the city will be available June 12. For more information, call 218-346-7672.

“People have been submitting their addresses to Coldwell Banker, and they put together the map,” Blume continued. “You can pick up the map from them and we’re going to put it on the chamber’s media pages too. There’s tons of sales, so it’s a pretty big annual event here.”

On Saturday night, the Shearer’s Fireworks show will be held on the East Otter Tail Fairgrounds at dusk. “People can just pull up their car or sit outside and wait for the fireworks to start,” Blume said. “There’s no admission fee. Just show up and enjoy the fireworks.”

For the complete list of all the events happening around town for Turtle Fest, visit perham.com/turtlefest.

Williams has worked as a reporter for the Perham Focus since April 2024. He has also worked at a newspaper in New Baltimore, Michigan, after graduating from Michigan State University in 2019.