In Gilmer, Texas, the Sweet Potato Gets Its 89th Parade

This week in Gilmer, Texas, one of the state's oldest festivals fires up again: the East Texas Yamboree returns October 15 to 18, marking its 89th year of celebrating the humble sweet potato. In a year when plenty of traditions are struggling to hang on, a small Upshur County town is about to throw a party that draws about 100,000 people — for a vegetable.

What's happening

As the Longview News-Journal reported in mid-October, the Yamboree runs October 15–18 in Gilmer, and the storied annual celebration draws about 100,000 people to Upshur County each year. Per CBS19's coverage this week, the festival has celebrated yams since 1935, when it started as a way to celebrate the Texas Centennial and honor Upshur County's sweet potato.

The lineup is exactly what you'd hope for. Events this year include the Queen's Coronation, concerts, a livestock and ag mechanics show, a carnival, parades, gospel music and the barn dance. And it's already off to a strong start: the festival kicked off last Saturday with the Tater Trot, which had its best year yet with about 200 runners.

A festival that outlived its crop — and didn't care

Here's the detail that gets us. The multi-day festival, now in its 89th iteration, has outlived the crop it was created to celebrate: the yam, better known as the sweet potato, which once was a cash crop in the sandy soils of Upshur County. The farms changed. The town kept the festival anyway. That's not nostalgia — that's a community deciding that showing up for each other once a year matters more than the original excuse for doing it.

The local chamber director put it plainly to the News-Journal: "It gets bigger and better every year." She also described what it feels like from the inside — for longtime residents it's a family tradition where you see old friends and out-of-town relatives, and newcomers can't believe something so big happens in such a small town.

The good stuff is in the small stuff

Big festivals have headliners. The Yamboree has a yam pie bake-off. Other events include the Yam Pie Contest, Decorated Yam Contest, a new Cake Decorating Contest, Essay & Poetry Contest, Photography Contest, Art Contest, a Yam Coloring Page, Home Canning Contest and a Handmade Craft Show. There's a quilt show and a display of queens' gowns, and livestock shows, live music, exhibits and a carnival filling the courthouse square take place daily.

The schoolkids are in on it too. Festivities include two parades — the first a school parade with floats built by the different Upshur County schools — and the floats that earn first, second and third places ride again in the Queen's Parade on Saturday. Imagine being nine years old and your class float makes the Saturday parade. That's a core memory being manufactured in real time.

This is the Texas we love putting on a shirt — the courthouse-square, carnival-lights, somebody's-grandmother-won-the-pie-contest version of the state. It's the whole spirit behind our Texas collection, and if a town that's thrown 89 straight harvest festivals doesn't justify a little Texas state pride on a tee, nothing does.

If you want in

Gilmer is in East Texas, northwest of Longview, and the festival takes over the heart of town — the Courthouse Square and city park. Best of all, admission is free. Go for the parade, stay for the barn dance, and eat something made of sweet potato on principle. If you can't make it this year, remember: this thing has run 89 times. The 90th will be worth the drive.

Common questions

When and where is the 2026 East Texas Yamboree?

The East Texas Yamboree runs October 15 to 18, 2026, in Gilmer, with livestock shows, live music, exhibits and a carnival filling the courthouse square daily.

How long has the Yamboree been going?

The festival has celebrated yams since 1935, beginning as a way to mark the Texas Centennial and honor Upshur County's sweet potato. The 2026 edition is the 89th.

Does it cost anything to attend?

Admission to the Yamboree is free, though you'll want cash on hand for the carnival, the food booths, and whatever the craft show talks you into.

Reported by Longview News-Journal. Details as published at the time of writing.