Discover Middlebury: Garden, Trail and Events

Middlebury offers a variety of reasons to visit: local heritage, trail sections with learning stations, nature-related features, and recurring events. When planning your trip, your main interest can help guide your choice—whether it’s history, outdoor trails, or a seasonal offering. The places and activities below also differ in whether they are tied to a season, an event date, or a specific trail length.

Garden and Local History

Krider’s Diversified Garden was recreated in Middlebury in 1935 after some plants and structural elements were brought back from the World’s Fair in Chicago. After the garden fell into disrepair, the local community restored it in 1995. Krider Nurseries offers another historical perspective: for many years, the business was one of Middlebury’s largest industrial employers.

Pumpkinvine Nature Trail and Learning Corridor

The Middlebury Pumpkinvine Nature Trail Corridor is a 1.85-mile paved multi-use trail. It is part of the 17-mile Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, which connects Shipshewana and Goshen. The corridor is therefore the Middlebury section of a longer connection between the two towns.

The corridor runs alongside Krider World’s Fair Garden and Rail Road Street and ends at the US-20 underpass. The Learning Corridor includes the historic Trestle Bridge, a rain garden, a habitat garden, the Right Tree-Right Place Arboretum, and several historic markers. These add several specific learning and wayfinding points to the trail’s multi-use function.

Nature and Pollinators

Corson Riverwoods County Park encompasses an 82-acre area with prairie and woodland habitats, as well as an accessible trail through these habitats. Middlebury is also home to the 1.5-mile Pollinator Playpath, with four themed play stations: Hummingbird, Butterfly, Ladybug, and Honeybee.

The Story Book Walk at Corson Riverwoods has 16 stations about the pollinators that live in the park. The trails have different focuses: the four Pollinator Playpath stations each have their own theme, while the Story Book Walk’s stations feature pollinators in the park.

Events and Seasonal Offerings

The Middlebury Summer Festival takes place annually in June in downtown. The 2026 program included live bluegrass and gospel music, arts and crafts, and activities for children. Riverfest at Riverbend Park features a demonstration in which fish are stunned and examined, various information booths, and kayaking on the Little Elkhart River. The exact program may vary from year to year.

The Annual Pumpkinvine Bike Ride offers recreational routes on the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail and on county roads. The routes offered may change from year to year.

From May through September, The Mill hosts a farmers market every Saturday. Examples of items on offer include produce, baked goods, soaps, and flowers. The Middlebury Then & Now Town Tour uses maps with marked stops and descriptive markers at participating locations. This tour explores local history through several named stops, while the Pumpkinvine corridor is distinguished, among other things, by its trail length and learning features.

Seasonal schedules vary for trip planning: the Summer Festival takes place annually in June, the market at The Mill is held on Saturdays from May through September, and the Bike Ride routes may change from year to year. If one of these offerings is essential to your stay, check the specific festival date or that year’s routes in advance.

Explore more destinations: Nappanee, New Paris, Elkhart, Goshen

Go to the main travel overview: Elkhart.