The sweet aroma of childhood lingers over Battle Creek, Michigan.
Dubbed Cereal City USA, it’s the home of what’s now a global breakfast staple, boxed cereal. Beloved brands such as Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and Post Fruity Pebbles are still made here.
March 7 is National Cereal Day. But every day is cereal day in this small city in southwest Michigan, at the confluence of Battle Creek and the Kalamazoo River.
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The birthplace of breakfast cereal is, naturally, a great place for a weekend away with the family.
“It’s pretty magical when you get the sweet, fruity smell, the maple syrup smell, of cereal all around the city,” Annie Kelley, spokesperson for the Calhoun County Visitors Bureau in Battle Creek, told Fox News Digital.
The National Cereal Festival is a tradition in Battle Creek, Michigan dating back more than a half century. It takes place each year on the second Saturday of June. (Calhoun County Visitors Bureau)
C.W. Post founded what was then called the Postum Cereal Co. in Battle Creek in 1895, offering what was then a cereal-based drink, and introduced Grape-Nuts dry cereal in 1897.
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W.K. Kellogg founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co. in 1906, after creating the first batch of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.
“People of my generation grew up either a Kellogg family or a Post family,” said Kelley, proudly touting that “mine was a Kellogg family.”
The Battle Creek, Michigan Welcome Center. Battle Creek is known as Cereal City USA. Cereal makers Post and Kellogg’s still make some of the nation’s favorite cereal brands in Battle Creek. (Annie J. Kelley, Calhoun County Visitors Bureau)
The Cereal History Exhibit touts local lore at the Battle Creek Welcome Center, while offering photo ops with Tony the Tiger of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes fame.
The National Cereal Festival, which dates back more than 50 years, is held the second Saturday of June and “highlights Battle Creek’s heritage as the birthplace of the cereal industry,” according to the Kellogg Arena website.
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The 2024 festival takes place on June 8.
The life of a cereal titan is explored at the W.K. Kellogg Manor House in neighboring Hickory Corners.
Kellogg’s Cereal City USA sign, Battle Creek, Michigan. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Families can feed giraffes at Binder Park Zoo, come face to face with reptilian friends at the Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary in neighboring Athens and visit the Fantasy Forest and Kaleidoscope Garden at Leila Arboretum.
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Cornwell’s Turkeyville USA in Marshall, meanwhile, is “a 400-acre farm where turkey is king.”
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Cornwell’s offers turkey buffet, country-store gift shop, baked goods, dinner theater, cooking classes, comedy shows, flea markets, Civil War re-enactments and a modern RV park for campers.
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