Festivals have been an important part of community life going back to the earliest known civilizations. The earliest festivals were mostly religious or tied to the seasons, but since then the scope of these events have grown beyond our ability to count them.

Communities big and small recognize the important role these events can play in marketing a city or town to visitors, supporting local businesses and promoting arts and culture and — let’s face it — pure entertainment. Everybody loves a party.

Some festivals have obvious links. No one needs to wonder why Tupelo holds its annual Elvis Fest, for example.

Others require a little more imagination.

There is the Lebowski Fest, held, for no apparent reason in Louisville, Kentucky for the past 20 years, which celebrates the cult 1998 film, “The Big Lebowski.” (White Russians flow abundantly).

Stranger still is the Frozen Dead Guy Days, which also began in 2002. It is an annual event in the town of Nederland, Colorado that loosely celebrates the memory of a man named Bredo Morstoel, who was cryogenically frozen after his death in 1989. Festival events include coffin races, costumed polar plunge and frozen turkey bowling.

Then there is the weirdest festival of them all: Burning Man, near Reno, Nevada. It was founded to promote self-expression, but the event has evolved to the point that it defies description, other than as a tribute to all things weird.

Although it is not a festival per se, the ​50 Mule Team public art project in Jasper, Alabama has been a surprising success. Residents and visitors have fallen in love with colorfully painted fiberglass mules, all created by private property owners. They number in the 70s now. The mules are a homage to the livestock that played an important rule in the city’s mining history.

Over time, these themed festivals and public art displays become more than just a quirky idea; they become part of a community’s identity.

Last weekend, the town of Eupora staged its first Chainsaws and Arts Festival, drawing chainsaw sculptors from far and wide. The festival was a collaboration of Eupora Economic Development and the city and is a nod to the timber industry that is so closely connected with the town’s history. As with most festivals, the goal was to support local businesses by drawing visitors, entertain local folks and promote the arts. The chainsaw sculpting competition produced seven finished sculptures, all of which were donated to the city in support of its arts in public places efforts.

Although it’s too early to know if the Chainsaws and Arts Festival will continue to grow and capture the imagination of residents and visitors, the response to the first festival provides plenty of reason for optimism.

Here in the Golden Triangle most  — though not all — of our festivals are not quite so themed-focus. Events like the Market Street Festival in Columbus, the Cotton District Arts Festival in Starkville and the Prairie Arts Festival in West Point are not developed around a single theme that remains constant from year to year. Other community festivals — Caledonia Days, Crawford Days and Artesia Day – are even less focused.

We certainly don’t mean to detract from these more general festivals, all of which are successful and delightful in their own ways.

But Eupora’s unique idea has the makings of an identity-establishing event, one that fires the imagination and gets people talking. We think they may be onto something.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.

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