5 Delaware Traditions That Only Make Sense to Locals
Delaware may be small, but its traditions are anything but.
Locals take them in stride, while visitors may wonder what on earth is going on.
Here’s a look at the local customs that can puzzle outsiders.
1. Low-Digit License Plates
Delaware Live reported in 2023 that, to some, a low-digit license plate signals deep roots in the state, a number passed down for generations.
Plate number 1 goes to the governor.
That one is taken.
If you’re after a low-digit plate, you had a shot in 2023, when the Division of Motor Vehicles held a random tag drawing.
It held another round in 2024.
Low-Digit Plates Beyond the Governor’s No. 1
The lieutenant governor gets plate 2 and the secretary of state gets plate 3.
One example for someone born on Delaware Day is 12787.
Delaware Day marks Dec. 7, 1787, when Delaware ratified the U.S. Constitution, so those digits read as 12/7/87.
A family’s collection of 17 tags, three of them single-digit, was worth more than $3 million in 2016, Delaware Live reported.
The plates date back to 1909, when the state first issued them.
2. Apple Scrapple Festival
The Apple Scrapple Festival grew out of local leaders discussing ways to promote Bridgeville and its agriculture industry, according to Visit Delaware’s listing.
In the committee’s history of the festival, the founders asked which theme would best represent Sussex County and Bridgeville.
The answer was apples and scrapple.
The theme stuck.
Many locals see nothing odd about pairing apples with scrapple.
Apples were grown nearby at T.S. Smith and Sons Farm, a Delaware Century Farm.
On the scrapple side, the maker RAPA Scrapple began in 1926 and has been producing scrapple ever since.
Bridgeville scheduled this year’s 34th annual festival for Oct. 9 and 10.
If you missed it, plan for the second full weekend in October next year.
Attendance grew from 2,500 visitors in 1992 to more than 20,000.
If you’d wandered up to the festival’s food booth in 2023, you could have ordered Scrapple Fries or Scrapple and Gouda Egg Rolls.
The sweet side had an Apple Walking Cake and an Apple Bread Pudding.
Volunteers still run the entertainment, the food court and the vendors.
3. Return Day
Return Day puts winners and losers in the same parade.
If you lose the election, you traditionally ride seated backwards, according to the University of Delaware Library.
In 2022, the Cape Gazette reported college bands, high school bands, civic groups, sports teams and dance groups marching in the parade.
Free roast ox sandwiches follow the ceremony, where a town crier reads the election results from the balcony of the Sussex County Courthouse.
Then comes lunch.
State party leaders bury a hatchet in sand from Lewes, the original county seat, once the votes are read.
Return Day comes around every two years, right after the General Election.
The state code makes it a Sussex County holiday that begins at noon, two days after the General Election.
This year’s General Election falls on Nov. 3, so you can mark Thursday, Nov. 5.
Return Day has been a legal half-day holiday since 1965, the Cape Gazette noted.
According to the state historical marker in Georgetown, voting districts created in 1811 required a Board of Canvass to meet on Thursdays and determine the county’s returns.
Return Day was well established by the mid-19th century and is recognized as the only event of its kind in the nation.
Psst! How much do you know about the First State? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
First State Trivia
Answer these questions on Delaware’s borders, history and state symbols. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Within the circle around New Castle that shapes Delaware’s northern border, where does Delaware’s boundary with New Jersey run?
4. Sea Witch Festival
In 2025, Wilmington radio station WDEL called the Sea Witch Festival's return its 35th year.
Costumes are the point.
Thousands of people in costume, floats, decorated cars and local bands would wind through downtown Rehoboth Beach.
This year, the chamber of commerce lists the costume parade for Saturday, Oct. 24, so circle it if you're planning a trip.
If you're bringing a dog, registration for the costumed dog parade was $5 per dog in 2025.
WDEL reported more than 100 clues in the 2025 Sea Witch Hunt.
In 2025, trick-or-treating was set for Dewey Beach on Friday and downtown Rehoboth Beach on Saturday.
Collectors' pins joined the festival merchandise in 1993, the chamber says, and they have appeared every year since except 1994.
5. Dover Days
Dover Days started in 1933 as a home and garden tour, Delmarva news station WBOC reported in 2017.
In 1955, it became a two-day event.
If you want to go, circle the first Saturday in May, when Dover Days takes over The Green in Dover, according to Delaware 250's event listing.
For 2026, the lineup included fireworks, food trucks and a lantern tour on Friday evening.
Fireworks open the weekend.
Saturday's festivities began with a parade, and the governor was grand marshal.
You can explore Dover's historic sites, visit historical reenactors and shop with local artisans.
Dover Days was free for all participants in 2026.
Dover Days drew nearly 50,000 people in 2015, according to event organizers, WBOC reported.
The 2017 preview counted around 4,500 participants in the parade.
It also described maypole dancing with 250-plus schoolchildren in colonial attire.
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