The DeWitt Ox Roast is a town festival with a huge carnival, an arts and crafts show, an entertainment stage and food. No ox roast actually occurs.
2023 DATE: August 18-20, 2023
Location: Downtown DeWitt
Website: https://dewittoxroast.org/
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This post documents my experience on August 17, 2019.
In the town of DeWitt, Michigan…
…I made my way downtown…
…to visit their annual Ox Roast.
Right off the bat, I saw that this was a festival where the carnival was a big draw…
…as it had taken over the downtown area with all sorts of flying and spinning rides…
…and plenty of games.
Just beyond the carnival…
…was an Arts and Crafts area…
…where vendors offered face painting…
…creative gourd bowls and decor…
…clothing ranging from dresses and tops to kids’ tutus and costumes…
…and even some colorful mermaid tail blankets.
This finally brought me to the food.
While their food area did have foods like chicken and fish…
…ribs and beef brisket (Smoke ‘N Pig)…
…authentic tacos and flavored crust pizza (Taqueria Tomatitos/Hungry Howie’s)…
…there actually was no roasted ox!
Explanation: when I asked about this, no one seemed to remember a time when there was an ox roast. But, very likely, it did occur in its origins of the festival before the practice was eliminated.
The festival simply retained the name.
Fortunately, I did find something of value at the Family Tree Cafe…
…where they served “Ox Roast Beef Sandwiches.”
But now as I write this, I question if they meant “ox sandwiches” as in roast beef sandwiches from an actual ox (as I originally thought)…
…or (roast) beef sandwiches at the Ox Roast event as if to say “DeWitt Festival Sandwiches”?
In either case, the sandwich was delicious!
But, if I had been terribly disappointed by the absence of roasted ox, I was happy to see that I could have easily had my pick of local wine (Burgdorf’s)…
…hard cider (Uncle John’s)…
…and a huge assortment of beer (BrickHaven/Dimes/EagleMonk/Looking Glass)…
…to drown my sorrows in a shaded spot…
…from where I could have easily watched the talent show going on at the entertainment stage.