CEDAR SPRINGS, Mich. — Cedar Springs is celebrating the 85th Red Flannel Festival this weekend.
The event is famous for bringing the community together with a parade, a carnival, a craft show, live music, food vendors and beer.
"We are celebrating our heritage of the red flannel long underwear," said Nancy Deyman, president of the festival.
According to organizers, the festival's origin dates back to 1936 when the country was going through one of the coldest, snowiest winters in years.
Deyman said a New York feature writer made a comment that said they were in the midst of an old-fashioned winter, with no red flannels in the whole country to go with it.
The local newspaper at the time, The Cedar Springs Clipper, answered the writer with an editorial that quickly debunked those comments.
"In New York, they were putting out on their wires that nobody had any red flannel underwear," Deyman said. "And Nina and Grace (owners and editors of the paper) here in Cedar Springs said, 'Don't say that nobody does, because we have them here in Cedar Springs, Michigan.'"
The Associated Press picked up the story and orders for red flannels came pouring into Cedar Springs from across the country.
The first Red Flannel Day was planned in the fall of 1939. Since then, the community has kept it going, celebrating on the last weekend of September and the first weekend of October each year.
"Even people who have moved away will come back," said Lisa Van Male, secretary of the festival. "We consider this to be the fifth season. There's summer, spring, winter and fall, and then there's red flannel season. And people come home for red flannel."
Organizers said attendees all wear red to dress for the occasion, transforming the downtown area into a "sea of red."
"If you've never been here and you come in, you're going to be like, 'Oh my goodness, look at all these people,'" said Van Male.
Deyman said they usually see up to 35,000 people or more during the festival.
"There's so much energy downtown, we just love it," Deyman said. "We work on it all year long. Our whole board is, we're all volunteers. So all of us work full-time jobs, and then we work our next full-time job volunteering, just put this festival together. But on Red Flannel Day, it's all worth it."
If you're interested in attending the festival, the full event schedule can be found here.
"In the morning I come down, and video down, and say, 'This is what it's about. You can just feel the whole town come alive,'" said Van Male.