The Rum River Festival in Princeton is held at the beginning of June. It is a free-entry festival and begins with the election of Miss Princeton in a pageant. The festival includes such activities as a 5-kilometer run, city-side garage sales, a craft fair, kids games and a car and model airplane show. Princeton is a 17-minute drive from Bock.
About an hour's drive away from Bock, in Pine City, is the Pine County Fair. The fair lasts six days and is held at the beginning of August. The fair features music, a demolition derby and farm animal shows. Swine, sheep, rabbits, horses and cattle can be entered into competitions, and even pets can get in on the competitive action. In the evenings, visitors can cheer on demolition derbies, truck pulls and tractor pulls, or listen to bands play in the beer garden.
A 27-minute drive down Highway 169 towards Mille Lacs Lake, the city of Onamia holds an annual one-day celebration of autumn in September. Active visitors can sign up for the 5-kilometer run in the morning. Those not interesting in running can enter a chili contest, take a horse-drawn trolley ride, browse a farmers market, listen to live music or watch demonstrations of skills such as Native American wild rice processing.
Bock is in within reach of plenty of state parks and lakes, some of which host events. For example, the Father Hennepin State Park on the shore of Mille Lacs Lake, 44 minutes from Bock, holds a Candlelight Ski event in February, when skiers travel more than two miles of easy trails before partaking in refreshments and roasting marshmallows over an open bonfire.
