Rural Fun Day is an annual festival held the last weekend in August in Thomaston, Alabama

Thomaston, Alabama

Thomaston is a town in Marengo County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 383. The area was first settled in the early 19th century by people from Virginia and the Carolinas who migrated to the area in search of land. The community was named in 1892, and the town of...

. The festival is hosted at the Alabama Rural Heritage Center

Alabama Rural Heritage Center

The Alabama Rural Heritage Center is located in Thomaston, Alabama, and was built by the Auburn University Rural Studio. The center is run by the non-profit Alabama Rural Heritage Foundation. The building is located off of Alabama Highway 25, on the former Marengo County High School Campus...

, which was designed and built by Auburn University

Auburn University

Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...

's Rural Studio

Rural Studio

The Rural Studio is a design-build architecture studio run by Auburn University which aims to teach students about the social responsibilities of the profession of architecture while also providing safe, well-constructed and inspirational homes and buildings for poor communities in rural west...

. Rural Fun Day is a celebration of rural life and traditions in western Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. Activities include gospel music

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

, storytelling, quilting, basket weaving, pottery throwing, spinning, tatting, weaving, chair caning

Cane

Cane are either of two genera of tall, perennial grasses with flexible, woody stalks from the family Poaceae that grow throughout the world in wet soils. They are related to and may include species of bamboo. The genus Arundo is native from the Mediterranean region to the Far East. Arundinaria...

 , barbecue

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...

, Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 crafts, a domino tournament, and a 5K run. The festival is the third-largest held every year in Marengo County, Alabama, after Demopolis

Demopolis, Alabama

Demopolis is the largest city in Marengo County, Alabama, United States. The population was 7,483 at the time of the 2010 United States Census....

' Christmas on the River

Christmas on the River

Christmas on the River is a week-long annual Christmas festival held in Demopolis, Alabama. It features a week of events that culminate with a nighttime parade of boats lighted with Christmas-themed decorations on the Tombigbee River at Demopolis...

, and the Alabama Crawfish Festival.