Crystal Falls to host 3rd annual Rhubarb Festival June 20

Crystal Falls’ third annual Rhubarb Festival packed Harbour House Museum on June 20, giving the city another early-summer reason to funnel traffic downtown. The event ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 17 N. Fourth Street, while the Iron County Economic Chamber Alliance listed it as an all-day gathering.

Vendors filled the museum grounds with rhubarb dishes, crafts and other rhubarb-related items, and the Upper Peninsula travel listing said live music and family activities were part of the day. That mix made the festival more than a novelty food stop. It was a walk-through market, a family outing and a steady source of foot traffic for Crystal Falls businesses clustered around North 4th Street.

The timing also mattered. The rhubarb festival landed in the middle of a crowded stretch on the local calendar, alongside Senior Days at Camp Batawagama from June 17-19, Saturday Cruise Fest on June 20 and the Father’s Day Car & Tractor Show on June 20-21. For Iron County, that meant June’s third weekend was built around shared events rather than one isolated attraction, with the rhubarb festival adding another draw to a busy summer run.

Harbour House Museum has turned the festival into part of its seasonal identity. The museum is open from May through September and is operated by the Crystal Falls Museum Society. It sits in a restored turn-of-the-century home, which the chamber describes as originally built in 1900 and the museum society says was built in 1904 for the Harbour family.

The festival also has a short but visible track record. The first Rhubarb Festival, held June 29, 2024, drew 20 vendors to 4th Street and featured rhubarb treats, jams and lemonade alongside other handmade goods. The second annual festival followed on June 7, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on North 4th Street in front of the museum, with baked goods, crafts, jams, jellies, crocheted items, wire sculptures, jewelry, stickers, rocks, hamburgers, hot dogs and more.

Inside the museum, the draw is broader than one Saturday. A 2024 report said Harbour House has six exhibit rooms on the second floor, and board members revamped displays during the off-season for summer visitors. The rhubarb festival fit that larger effort, giving Harbour House another way to bring people through the doors and keeping downtown Crystal Falls active as summer traffic builds.