Enjoy the sights and sounds of one of Indiana’s largest festivals.
Residents of Greenfield, IN held their annual festival, from Oct. 1 to Oct. 4, 2015 in honor of their famous resident, James Whitcomb Riley.
James Whitcomb Riley was born Oct. 7, 1849 in Greenfield, IN. He became famous for his poetry that featured a country-folk dialect and centered on children. Two of his most famous are “Little Orphant Annie” and “The Raggedy Man.” According to Paul Gray in his article Poet as Entertainer: Will Carleton, James Whitcomb Riley, and the Rise of the Poet-Performer Movement, Riley lived in a time when “sales of poetry volumes easily matched those of the novels.” During this period, poets often traveled the countryside to give live performances of their work. Riley passed away in 1916.
The Riley Memorial Foundation formed after Riley’s death, and later became the Riley Children’s Foundation. The purpose of the foundation was to build the Riley Hospital for Children, which opened in 1924 in Indianapolis, IN. Riley Children’s Hospital is part of the Indiana University Health network, and is a nationally ranked as one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals.
According to the Greenfield Daily Reporter, nearly 65,000 people attend the Riley Festival each year. Some booths, as the one staffed by local Wal-Mart associates, donate one hundred percent of the money they make that day to the Riley Hospital. Special activities during the weekend long festival included poetry readings and an old fiddler’s contest.
