If there is one thing people in the Twin Counties know how to do, it’s throw a party.

Rocky Mount and the surrounding towns offer festivals all year round to enjoy fun, food and entertainment. Some have become annual traditions that draw people to reconnect with friends and the community where they live, while others rapidly are developing a regular following.

Despite being a newer event, Edgecombe Community College’s annual Beach Music and BBQ Festival already has a good reputation and can draw a crowd, said Karen Andrus, executive director. April 2012 will mark the event’s fourth year of bringing several big-name beach music bands to the campus in Tarboro.

The festival is a low-key affair, offering music, food and a shag dance contest for people in the mood to move, Andrus said. It is the only local festival that charges admission, but the money raised goes to a scholarship fund.

In May, the Happening on the Common draws a diverse crowd with its schedule of music and entertainment, food and children’s activities, organizer Carol Banks said. For four decades, Tarboro’s idyllic Town Common also has offered plenty of space for a wide range of craft vendors to show off handmade wares, the original purpose of the event.

“A lot of people look forward to it. They know it is on the third Saturday in May. They always know it is coming up, and it gets bigger every year,” Banks said.

There is no shortage of activities to keep visitors busy at the annual Nashville Blooming Festival, which marks its 16th year in 2012, said Jo Anne Cooper, co-chairwoman. The town’s population doubles in size every Mother’s Day weekend as 15,000 to 20,000 people come out to enjoy the fun, with a carnival, dozens of food and craft vendors, children’s activities and the annual parade.

“We try to choose bands that will attract all ages, all tastes in music. We have something for the young, something for the older, people – country, rock, beach, gospel. We try to use local talent as well,” Cooper said.

People are exposed to a different flavor of food and entertainment when Fiesta Latina is held in May in downtown Rocky Mount, said Debbie Julio, the city’s special events coordinator. Begun as an effort to reach out to the growing Hispanic community in the area, the festival offers food, entertainment and information about the Latin culture.

“It is a nice way to be informal and be comfortable and be able to share – not only share what we have to give to them but have them share their culture with us,” Julio said.

A few days later, the night skies are lit up as people come out to celebrate the nation’s Independence Day.

Rocky Mount has made it an annual tradition for 40 years to hold its July Fourth celebration a day early, Julio said. Hundreds of people bring picnic baskets and lawn chairs and come to the Rocky Mount Sports Complex for an evening of entertainment and fireworks.

As summer turns to fall, the Spring Hope Pumpkin Festival provides a two-day event that is everything a small town celebration should be, said Sylvia Williams, vice president of the Spring Hope Chamber of Commerce. The festival, which started as a harvest celebration, draws about 30,000 people the first weekend of every October.

In sticking with its agricultural roots, the festival has a pumpkin recipe contest, weigh-in and decorating competition for children, Williams said. When people are not listening to the variety of entertainers onstage Friday night and all day Saturday, they can walk around and check out the food and craft vendors or head to the carnival.

Another growing event is the Eastern Carolina BBQ Throw Down in downtown Rocky Mount, Julio said. Despite being only four years old and starting as an add-on to the Down East Festival, the competition came into its own in October 2011.

The event boasts a two-day line up of entertainers, barbecue, a beer garden and children’s activities, Julio said. Meanwhile, a block away, dozens of cook teams fill the air with the aroma of barbecue chicken, pork ribs, pork and beef brisket.

“We have had a lot of interest about it, a lot of enthusiasm about it, which is why it has grown and why we have decided to make it a festival within itself and not be a part of the Down East Festival. We are making it its own festival,” Julio said.

The Down East Festival, held downtown for almost three decades, will be on hold until 2013, said Kelvin Yarrell, the city’s recreation superintendent. The event is being revamped while Main Street undergoes construction and will be back with a new look and feel.

Though the Rocky Mount Christmas Parade is not a festival, what year of events would be complete without a little holiday cheer?

Thousands of people brave the cold to smile and wave at a procession of floats, marching bands, community groups, clowns and other amusements.

The 2012 parade will be at 3 p.m. Dec. 4.