About Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive

The Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive Associates invite you to come to Fulton County, Illinois and enjoy the natural wonders of the Spoon River Valley. The Spoon River has carved a wide scenic valley through Fulton County as it flows from London Mills to the south and east where it joins the Illinois River near Havana at the southeastern corner of the county.

Fulton County offers unusual beauty of the colors throughout the Spoon River Valley, which inspired founders of the Spoon River Drive to hold the first Fall Festival and to organize the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive forty-one years ago. The first weekend of the Scenic Drive brought large crowds and a second consecutive weekend was held in October 1968. The Scenic Drive’s Fall Festival has since been held each year during the first two full weekends of October.

The Spoon River became nationally known from the work of Edgar Lee Masters, author of the noted Spoon River Anthology. The home of Masters still stands in Lewistown, the county seat of Fulton County.

Fulton County’s Spoon River Valley country offers much to the visitor during the Fall Festival and during other seasons of the year. While there are many attractions a visitor may find interest in, a few highlights may include; the lone dam on the Spoon River at Bernadotte, a public boat dock at London Mills, the historical Ellisville Opera House, and the breathtaking scenery along the entire route of the Spoon River.

Foods have become a tradition during the Fall Festival; apple butter made before your eyes at London Mills, butterfly pork chops at Mount Pisgah, baked potatoes and hot cider at Farmington, chicken and noodles at Smithfield’s Red Brick School, funnel cakes in Lewistown, baked goods in Duncan Mills and the famed ham in Ellisville.

Visitors to the area are welcomed to join us on the highways and byways of Fulton County which sport the colors of the four seasons and are open to visitors year around with routes running through London Mills, Farmington, Fairview, Ellisville, Mount Pisgah Park, Smithfield, Cuba, Canton, Avon, Lewistown, Bernadotte, Duncan Mills, Waterford, Ipava and Astoria. These routes cover more than 100 miles in Fulton County.

The Associates of the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive produce a colorful brochure of the Scenic Drive and the Fall Festival. This brochure and information for those interested in becoming a sanctioned vendor or other requests for information about the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive or the Fall Festival may be requested electronically from this website. If you desire more information via hard copies, please write to us at Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive, P.O. Box 525, Canton, Illinois 61520, or call us at 309-647-8980. You may also e-mail us at info@spoonriverdrive.org. Another useful resource with information about events in Fulton County and the Spoon River Valley is the Fulton County Tourism Council.

This year, the 2008 Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive marks the 41st year of the annual Fall Festival which will attract over one hundred thousand visitors to Fulton County over the two weekends. We invite all to visit our area and enjoy this years Fall Festival on October 4, 5 and 11, 12, 2008.