(Photo By Flickr User Bureau of Land Management)
Join in with Knox County & Spoon River Valley for a celebration of rural heritage the first two weekends in October!
About Knox County Scenic Drive:
The Knox County Scenic Drive is a self-guided car tour, allowing you to navigate your way through the small towns of Knox County, displaying the best they have to offer.
You will encounter old traditions, crafts and skills at each of the stops along the way. Two one-room schoolhouses, four buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a railroad depot, an 1832 log cabin, museums and century old chapels will be open for visitors to explore.
Visit The Official Stops Of The 38th Annual Scenic Drive; the stops on the Scenic Drive are as follows: the Knox County Fairgrounds, the Wolf-Covered Bridge, Orange Chapel, Hawthorne Center, and the Walnut Grove Farm just to name a few.
Each stop emphasizes a unique aspect of our rural heritage, but they are all bonded together by a fun, friendly atmosphere with plenty to see and do for the entire family.
Join in with the Knox County Scenic Drive on October 1st & 2nd also on October 8th & 9th.
Read more about the Knox County Scenic Drive by logging on to the website at www.knoxcountyscenicdrive.com, right now!
About Spoon River Valley Drive:
Fulton County offers unusual beauty of the colors throughout the Spoon River Valley, which inspired founders to hold the first Fall Festival and to organize the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive. The first weekend of the Scenic Drive brought large crowds and a second consecutive weekend was held in October 1968. The Scenic Drive’s Fall Festival has since been held each year during the first two full weekends of October.
The Spoon River became nationally known from the work of Edgar Lee Masters, author of the noted Spoon River Anthology. The home of Masters still stands in Lewistown, the county seat of Fulton County.
Fulton County’s Spoon River Valley country offers much to the visitor during the Fall Festival and during other seasons of the year. While there are many attractions a visitor may find interesting, a few highlights may include the lone dam on the Spoon River at Bernadotte, a public boat dock at London Mills, the historical Ellisville Opera House, and the breathtaking scenery along the entire route of the Spoon River.
Foods have become a tradition during the Fall Festival such as apple butter made before your eyes at London Mills, baked potatoes and hot cider at Farmington, chicken and noodles at Smithfield’s Red Brick School, baked goods in Duncan Mills, and the famed ham in Ellisville.
Visitors to the area are welcome to join us on the highways and byways of Fulton County which sport the colors of the four seasons and are open to visitors year around with routes running through London Mills, Farmington, Fairview, Ellisville, Smithfield, Cuba, Canton, Avon, Lewistown, Bernadotte, Duncan Mills, Waterford Township, Ipava, and Astoria. These routes cover more than 100 miles in Fulton County.
The Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive Associates invite you to come to Fulton County, IL and enjoy the natural wonders of the Spoon River Valley. Spoon River has carved a wide scenic valley through Fulton County as it flows from London Mills to the south and east where it joins the Illinois River near the southeastern corner of the County.
The Associates of the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive produce a colorful brochure of the Scenic Drive. This brochure and information has been created for those interested in becoming a sanctioned vendor as well as other requests for information about the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive. Tourist and vendor information may also be requested electronically from this website. If you desire more information via hard copies, please write them at Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive, P.O. Box 525, Canton, IL 61520, call them at 309-647-8980, or go online to www.spoonriverdrive.org. You may also e-mail them at spoonriverdrive@mail.com. Another useful resource with information about events in Fulton County and the Spoon River Valley is the Fulton County Tourism Council.
FYI: Vermont, IL approved to be added to the Fall Festival and list of communities. Check out their website www.vermontcemeterytours.com to find out more information regarding their community.
Helpful Tourist Information:
Reminders and House Rules:
*Sites are open from 9am to 5pm during the event of the Fall Festival.
*All sites remain open rain or shine. Sites close only in hazardous weathers such as local tornado sightings.
*Please be aware this is a farming community. Please be cautious of our farmers moving from field to field by the roadways.
*Be courteous to all of the friends as they enjoy the beauty of the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive with you. Everyone can maintain a fun, warm atmosphere when everybody is on their best behavior.
*At the festival, you will have to take a self-guided tour of the Spoon River Country area. You can walk around the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive at your own pace.
