Our Daily Show Interview! World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Festival Set for 6-20
COLLINSVILLE – The City of Collinsville will celebrate the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle with a major festival this weekend.
From 2–7 p.m. on Saturday, June 20, 2026, in uptown Collinsville, the community will come together for a car show, vendor fair, live music, contests, games and more. Organized by Mike Gassman and his family, the festival promises to be a fun event for catsup enthusiasts or anyone who enjoys the history of the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle.
“Basically, it’s a birthday party for the catsup bottle where we invite 5,000 of our closest friends. It’s really, really cool,” Gassman said.
The day will kick off with the Giant Idaho Potato Truck rolling into town at 2 p.m. The Great Catsup Bottle Classic Car Show will also hit City Hall’s parking lot. The ketchup tasting booth, activities, games and vendors will open at 2 p.m. and run through the evening.
At 2 p.m., the Celebrity Guest Ketchup Tasting Contest will be held on the Herald Square Main Stage, featuring the police chief, fire chief, mayor, city council members and others who will be vying to determine which ketchup is the Brooks Tangy Catsup that was originally made in Collinsville.
The Princess Tomato and Sir Catsup Contest will be held at 2:30 p.m., and then the Looking Glass Corvette Club vehicles will arrive in town at 3 p.m. From 3:15–4 p.m., kids and adults can compete in hotdog and tater tot eating contests.
At 4 p.m., the Route 66 Great Race vehicles will roll in from Springfield. These classic cars are traveling Route 66 from Illinois to California to commemorate the road’s 100th anniversary, and Gassman is excited to welcome them to town.
A few old-fashioned party games will be available to kids from 4:15–5:15 p.m., including musical chairs and pass-the-ketchup, modeled after hot potato. At 5:15 p.m., the crowd will sing “Happy Birthday” to the catsup bottle and free cupcakes will be available.
The Mascot Madness Dance Off Party takes the stage at 5:30 p.m., featuring Izzy the Grizzly and other local mascots. All ages can compete in the hula hoop competition and the water balloon toss competition later that evening. The band Strange Buffalo will play music from 7–10 p.m., closing out the festival.
“You can just walk everywhere in uptown and there will be something on every corner, on every street,” Gassman promised. “It’s a lot of fun. It means a lot to our town. It puts us on the map.”
Gassman and his family started the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Festival in 1999. Over the next 20 years, the festival grew and developed into a local favorite in Collinsville. But they struggled to find enough volunteers, so they decided to take a break.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Route 66, and Gassman decided it was a good reason to bring the festival back to town. He hopes this year’s festival proves to be the most fun and exciting of them all.
“When we started this back in 1999, it was the 50th anniversary of the catsup bottle. So we decided, hey, let’s celebrate the catsup bottle’s birthday. Then it kind of morphed into like, hey, instead of just your run-of-the-mill street festival, let’s turn it into a big giant backyard birthday party,” he remembered. “It’s just great to look out there and see all the smiles on everyone’s faces. Everybody is having a great time.”
For more information about the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Festival this weekend, visit the official Facebook page.
