The Apache Rattlesnake Festival Is This Weekend In SW Oklahoma

If you are the type of person who complains that there's "nothing to do" in Oklahoma, your weekend plans just landed in your lap.

The Apache Rattlesnake Festival is a traditional rattlesnake roundup where the entire town transforms into a metropolitan area for one weekend each year. Thousands of people embark on the journey here for one reason-- to see who managed to wrangle the biggest rattlesnake in the area.

Oklahoma is home to eight venomous species of snakes and rattlesnakes make up the majority of them. Most famous is the Western Diamondback rattler we've all become familiar with through movies and pop culture. This is the species you'll find most often at a rattlesnake roundup and the most common species of rattlesnake found in Oklahoma.

If you're curious, the world record for the largest western diamondback rattlesnake ever caught is officially seven feet long, though I remember one Apache Rattlesnake Festival where they may have had one a few inches longer a few years ago.

Don't challenge me on that, the memory is a little hazy.

All the festivities will get started on April 18th in Apache and roll through Sunday the 21st. Be sure to carve out some time to go experience what may be a once-in-a-lifetime event for you.