Ghost Dancing on the Cracker Circuit

Everybody knows about community festivals that celebrate the good ol'' days--events like Rattlesnake Roundup, Peanut Days, and Mule Day. Countless towns around the South stage them. They set aside one weekend a year, rope off some parking, and celebrate some local them on the courthouse lawn or in a nearby pasture, touting lost days of imagined glory.

The phenomenon is rapidly proliferating across ...