The McLoud Blackberry Festival, which began in the 1940s, is one of the oldest continual festivals in the state of Oklahoma. Originally a celebration of the local cash farm crop, blackberries, the festival combined with an annual town picnic to form a larger event. 

The town received national media coverage in 1949 when the McLoud Blackberry Growers Association and the McLoud Chamber of Commerce sent a crate of berries via overnight air freight to President Harry Truman. He said they were "the best he had ever tasted" and declared McLoud to be the "Blackberry Capital of the World". The association disbanded in 1963 due to a poor market, and farmers moved on to a more lucrative crop, but the festival continues to be an exciting event for the city and draws tens of thousands of attendees from across the nation. 

Enjoy quarts of fresh blackberries as well as other treats like blackberry jam, blackberry cobbler, blackberry fried pies, blackberry sno cones, blackberry Newberg and funnel cakes topped with, of course, blackberries. Blackberry-themed drinks include sodas, teas, wine and blackberry craft beer from Anthem Brewing Company.  

The festival also includes carnival rides, craft vendors, food trucks, a huge parade through downtown, live music, a fantastic fireworks display and more. See if you have what it takes at the "Cobbler Gobbler" eating contest, and enter your blackberry creation into the baking contest to see if you can take home top honors. This family-friendly event concludes with a dazzling fireworks display on Saturday night.