Barberton's Lake Anna Park will burst into color on September 26-27 as the city's beloved Mum Festival returns for its 36th year, drawing what event organizers estimate could be tens of thousands of visitors to see more than 1 million chrysanthemum blooms hand-planted around the lake. The free, two-day event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on September 26 and September 27, with family activities, live music, food trucks and even a water ski show rounding out the schedule.
The festival, organized by the Barberton Parks & Recreation Department and the city's parks maintenance team, draws visitors to Lake Anna Park, according to Cleveland.com. The outlet reports the event typically attracts roughly 28,000 to 32,000 people annually, according to the event website, and this year's lineup includes roving performers, canoe races, and a mix of local craft and commercial vendors alongside the food trucks.
This year's display theme, called “Mums in Bloom for the Red, White and Blue,” celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States with floral arrangements shaped into a waving American flag and a bald eagle, according to Ohio Magazine. The magazine notes that city staff design an entirely new thematic layout for the garden beds every autumn, with the mums themselves germinating in the park through the summer months until they reach full bloom in late September.
Months of Planning Behind the Blooms
The scale of the display doesn't happen overnight. Planning for the annual floral installation begins each December under city designer Brian Coffman, and the plants themselves arrive in mid-June to be hand-planted by city crews over the course of three days, per the same Ohio Magazine account. That kind of lead time reflects just how much agricultural coordination goes into a festival that's ultimately given away for free.
The 2026 edition marks the 36th annual Barberton Mum Festival since it began in 1991, according to Orange Community Education & Recreation. What started as a temporary attraction has run continuously for more than three decades, evolving into a fixture of the city's fall calendar.
Roots Tracing Back to a Centennial Gift
The festival's origin story ties directly to Barberton's industrial history. The event began in 1991 when local plant grower Aris Horticulture donated 15,000 chrysanthemum bulbs to decorate Lake Anna Park for Barberton's bicentennial celebration, according to City of Barberton. Chrysanthemums were the natural choice, since the city had designated them Barberton's official flower back in 1957, more than three decades before the festival existed.
Yoder Brothers reorganized as Aris Horticulture in 2008 and still calls Barberton home as its global corporate headquarters, per CompassOhio. The company co-sponsors the festival alongside the city and the Barberton Community Foundation, and Barberton's traditional nickname is “The Magic City.” That original moniker reflects the city's rapid transformation from open farmland into an industrial hub, according to the Barberton Community Foundation.
A Milestone Year for Barberton
Earlier this year, the city council designated March 23 as Founders Day, as Hoodline previously reported. Lake Anna Park itself centers on a lake in downtown Barberton, according to Ohio Magazine's 2015 coverage cited by CompassOhio.
Mum sales help fund the festival's operations, and both mums and presales will be available to the public. Presales run from 1 to 7 p.m. on September 24 and September 25 at the corner of 3rd Street and West Lake Avenue, next to the mum gardens, while mums can also be purchased during the festival itself while supplies last, per Cleveland.com's reporting. Community volunteers helped organize the event alongside city staff.
Visitors sticking around downtown after wandering the mum gardens can spend more time in Barberton.
