WATONGA – Watonga hosted its annual Cheese Festival this past weekend for the first time in two years, and the high turnout showed western Oklahoma was ready for the return of this favorite tradition.
Despite unseasonably hot weather, the Watonga Chamber estimates that more than 3,000 people attended the festival this past Friday and Saturday.
“The festival exceeded our expectations,” it wrote on Facebook, “and was a fantastic event highlighting what an amazing place Watonga is to live!”
Vendors and festivalgoers packed Main Street and the surrounding areas with dozens of food trucks, booths and activities. Live music played from the Centennial Park stage while children zoomed around the festival in a colorful toy train.
The festivities began on Thursday evening, as Mayor Bill Seitter performed the ceremonial cutting of the cheese – literally slicing a block of cheese – to mark the beginning of the event. The evening also featured the children’s Poster Contest awards, a T-shirt contest and a “cutest dog” contest.
On Saturday morning, runners enjoyed a 5K and 10K “rat race” around Watonga with awards given to the top finishers. Down the road at the First Baptist Church, attendees sampled various cheeses while judges scrutinized cheesy dishes for the annual food contest.
At noon Saturday, locals lined both sides of Noble Avenue for a long and loud parade featuring emergency vehicles, school marching bands, dozens of motorcycles, horseback riders, classic cars and much more.
Some of the weekend’s winners included:
• Food contest senior grand champion: Cranberry pecan goat cheese truffles by Terri Crawford
• Junior grand champion: Korean cheese bombs by Kaylee Roberts
• 5K: Diahann Kramer and Indy Moore
• 10K: Kayla Kuehn and Joseph Theinert
Watonga Chamber President Melanie McCrary thanked all the volunteers who stepped up to make the festival work, as well as the sponsors who supported it.
The Watonga Cheese Festival will return in October 2022.