The 48th annual James Dean Festival is back!

FAIRMOUNT, Ind. (WANE) — The small town of Fairmount about 60 miles south of Fort Wayne, is home to arguably one of the greatest actors in American history… James Dean.

Dean is notably famous for starring as Jim Stark in the ‘Rebel Without a Cause’. He lived in Fairmount and that is also where he is now buried in the local Park Cemetery.

For almost half a century the town has been putting on this big festival to recognize dean and celebrate him as a community.

For a small town of roughly 2600 people, the festival attracts over 30,000 visitors each year.

“People come from all over for this festival,” said Bob Berry, who sits on the board for the James Dean Museum.

“…yeah, it started really just to celebrate James Dean, because he’s our hometown boy, and we’re so proud of him and this is the 48th year. The James Dean Museum…we organized and fully fund the festivals every year,” said Dorothy Schultz who is the Curator for the Museum.

They say putting on an event of this caliber takes a lot of work, but they are grateful because everything is volunteer ran.

For more about James Dean, the museum and the festival click here .

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