Sussex County Return Day

Winners and losers return together to The Circle in Georgetown two days after every election, for a celebration the Delaware Public Archives calls the only event of its kind in the nation. A 1791 law moved the Sussex County seat inland from Lewes to the new town of Georgetown, and voters came back to hear the tally read aloud, which is where the name comes from. The first date is uncertain, possibly as early as 1792, but the gathering has been celebrated in Georgetown since about 1812. Candidates still share horse-drawn carriages and antique cars, a town crier reads the returns, and party leaders plunge a hatchet into a box of sand from Lewes. An ox roast, a custom since the 1800s, serves sandwiches. Return Day is a Delaware state holiday, a half day in Sussex County.

Our take: Stay through the town crier and the hatchet ceremony, then get in line for the ox-roast sandwiches.