The Starkville Derby draws in record crowd once again

Estimated 80,000 people in attendance for 2025 festival

STARKVILLE, MS (WCBI)- The Starkville Derby once again proved why it was voted Mississippi’s best large festival of the year.

According to Alden Thornhill, who founded the festival three years ago, the 2025 edition brought in an estimated 80,000 attendees to the Cotton District Saturday morning. The festival aims to bring the community together to benefit the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, featuring QR codes and constant reminders of the true purpose behind the large event.

“I know it’s been a wiener-ful weekend and a great time for everybody,” Thornhill said. “It just shows you when you have a fun, collective kind of event that’s different, people will come out and support it.”

The event has grown in size each year it has been put on, not only benefitting the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, but the local businesses around the area as well. While thousands gathered to watch our four legged friends run across a 100 ft. green turf, Thornhill notes that everybody wins in a festival like this.

“It was truly the most wiener-ful weekend of all time.”