The Middleton Good Neighbor Festival celebrated its 60th year, and we hope you were able to be part of our Diamond Jubilee.
Though many things have changed through 6 decades, one thing that hasn’t changed is that the festival is still 100% organized and run by volunteers who raise money during the festival to fund programs in our area. Check out the work our Trustees do in the community here.
The festival got its start in 1963 when local pharmacist and president of the Middleton Chamber of Commerce, Amos Colby, invited his neighbor Keith Hinsman to his house for a beer and a brainstorming session. Colby felt that Middleton had many outstanding service organizations, but that each one was duplicating the effort of others by putting on their own festivals and fundraising events.
Colby and Hinsman decided that if all the groups came together to put on one big festival, they’d each be more successful and Middleton would have an event that would put it on the map.
“It was planned to provide good, clean fun and a spirit of comradery with our neighbors in Madison and the surrounding area,” said Amos Colby in a 1964 Middleton Times Tribune interview.