43rd Annual Pelican Festival at Grand Lake

Grand Lake welcomes the pelicans back as 43rd annual festival returns to Grove

GROVE, Okla. — One of northeast Oklahoma’s most recognizable signs of autumn is returning to Grand Lake — and this weekend, an entire festival is being held in its honor.

The 43rd Annual Pelican Festival runs Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 1-4, at Wolf Creek Park in Grove, bringing together carnival rides, live music, food trucks, arts and crafts, classic vehicles and excursions onto Grand Lake to see the enormous white birds that inspired the celebration.

The festival is organized around the seasonal migration of the American White Pelican, which passes through the Grand Lake region during the spring and fall. Festival organizers say the birds can be seen around the lake from roughly September through November during their fall movement.

They are difficult birds to overlook.

American White Pelicans are among the largest flying birds in North America. Cornell Lab of Ornithology measurements put their wingspan at roughly 8 to 9½ feet, with adults distinguished by their massive yellow-orange bills, white bodies and black flight feathers visible when their wings are spread. 

Unlike the familiar Brown Pelican of the coast, the American White Pelican generally does not plunge headfirst into the water. It swims at the surface, dipping its enormous bill beneath the water to scoop up fish, and groups sometimes work together to herd fish into shallow areas.

That annual natural spectacle has become the centerpiece of a Grand Lake tradition now entering its 43rd year.

Wolf Creek Park will serve as festival headquarters, with Fun Time Shows opening the carnival from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Saturday carnival sessions are scheduled for noon to 5 p.m. and again from 6 to 10 p.m., followed by a final session from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Friday and Saturday will carry most of the festival’s additional activities. Arts-and-crafts vendors and food trucks are scheduled from noon to 8 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. Pelican boat excursions are also planned both days, giving visitors an opportunity to leave the shoreline and look for the migrating birds on Grand Lake itself.

Music takes over the Indigo Sky Casino and Resort Entertainment Tent in the evenings. Lightly Salted is scheduled to perform Friday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., followed Saturday by Guns 4 Roses, a Guns N’ Roses tribute act, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The scheduled entertainment under the tent is free.

Saturday will also bring horsepower of another variety. The Grove Masonic Lodge Car, Truck & Bike Show is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., while a free caricature artist will be at the festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The celebration extends beyond Wolf Creek Park. Har-Ber Village Museum is advertising special $5 admission Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in connection with Pelican Festival weekend. 

For visitors planning the weekend, the main festival schedule is:

Thursday, Oct. 1: Carnival, 6-10 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 2: Arts, crafts and food trucks, noon-8 p.m.; carnival, 6-10 p.m.; pelican boat excursions; Lightly Salted, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 3: Arts, crafts and food trucks, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; car, truck and bike show, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; caricature artist, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; carnival, noon-5 p.m. and 6-10 p.m.; pelican excursions; Guns 4 Roses, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 4: Carnival, 1-6 p.m.

The festival takes place at Wolf Creek Park, 963 N. 16th St. in Grove. The Grand Lake Association lists 918-786-2289 as the contact number for additional festival information.

For all the midway lights, music and festival food, however, the original attraction remains out on the water.

During migration, American White Pelicans may travel in large flocks and soar high overhead on broad wings, often using rising columns of warm air to remain aloft. Northern populations ultimately move toward southern California, the Gulf states, Mexico and Central America for the nonbreeding season. Grand Lake provides one of the inland stopping places along that seasonal journey.

For four days this October, Grove will once again turn their arrival into a celebration — part county fair, part lake festival and part reminder that one of North America’s largest birds still marks the changing of the seasons over Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.