Pennsylvania State Laurel Festival

Every year in mid-June the community of Wellsboro celebrates the blooming of our State flower with the annual Pennsylvania State Laurel Festival. Plans are already underway for the 83rd Pennsylvania State Laurel Festival to be held June 14-22, 2025. The week-long event will include a juried arts and crafts fair, queen's pageant, pet parade, children’s health fair, foot races, a gospel sing, and several musical concerts, as well as the traditional two-hour Laurel Festival Parade. This is always a great week packed full of fun for the entire family – you are sure to find something for everyone’s taste.

The Laurel Festival is truly a “State” festival. Miss Liliana Kilgore from Manheim PA, representing Manheim Township High School, is the 2024 Pennsylvania State Laurel Queen. She will return to Wellsboro to reign over the Festival and crown the 2025 Pennsylvania State Laurel Queen from among the beautiful young ladies chosen to represent high schools from throughout Pennsylvania.

Our parade traditionally features high school bands, drum and bugle corps, Shriner’s units, floats, fire trucks and more from throughout the state, joined by several of our friends and neighbors from New York as well.

The Festival was first held in 1938, and was the brainchild of a local businessman named Larry Woodin, who was hoping to boost a sagging economy by promoting the beautiful Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. The festival was originally organized by the Lions Club, but today’s festival is sponsored by the Wellsboro Foundation, Inc., administered by the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce, and is organized by a committee of volunteers who work year round to ensure its success.

Miss Montoursville 2023
Pennsylvania State Laurel Festival
Queen Scholarship Program Feedback
Melody Rzeszotarski, Miss Montoursville, 1st Runner Up in the 2023 Pennsylvania
State Laurel Festival, joins Jake Michaels from Backyard Broadcasting in the studio for a
little chat about the Queen’s Scholarship Program. You can hear her interview on the
Backyard Broadcasting podcast channel by clicking this link:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lF05GtmoLAXBI2qQOIsLo

Printable Schedule 2024