Is our asparagus obsession weird?

MSN.com’s travel site named our own Empire Asparagus Festival among “The World’s Weirdest Festivals”.

“The Empire Asparagus Festival in Empire, Mich., is dedicated entirely to this perennial vegetable. Michigan is one of the top asparagus producers in the U.S., but since Empire is known more for its artsy side than its agricultural one, the festival includes many touches of whimsy. Each May, revelers gather to celebrate with a parade, a 5K fun run, asparagus hat-making and even an “ode to asparagus” poetry contest. The food at the festival is hardly your typical fair fare: You can dine on everything from deep-fried asparagus to asparagus bratwurst, and wash it all down with asparagus beer.”

Now, are we really that weird? Do we really belong in the same company as the Boryeong Mud Festival in South Korea (crazed kids wrestling, sliding and “frolicking” in mud), the Monkey Buffet Festival in Lopburi, Thailand (600 macaques dining on more than 5,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables, ice cream and sodas) or the El Colacho “baby jumping” Festival in the northern Spanish town of Castrillo de Murcia (men dressed in costumes meant to represent the devil — el Colacho — leaping over the mattresses, and thus cleansing the newborns of evil)? Or perhaps we shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Publicity is publicity, after all.

When Asparagus Festival organizer Paul Skinner emailed this news to local friends, he got a ton of responses, including this one:

“They are weird for putting this in there. Although I am sure it is nice to have the publicity, the only thing remotely weird about this festival may be the skateboarding asparagus spear. (I loved that guy!)”