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Minnesota's Wacky Food Festivals
Our weather isn't the only strange thing you'll find here
By Jenna Zakrajsek
Besides the crazy weather that Minnesota is known for, food festivals should be added to that list. Each year different cities around the state hold festivals celebrating different foods, traditions, or other things relating to the world of food. Here are some of the funniest, quirkiest, and most entertaining ones that are worth checking out:
Bean Hole Days Arts and Crafts Fair- July 8-9, 2008—Pequot Lakes, Minn.
If you go for the baked beans first at your family picnic, this wacky food festival will surely get you excited. Come hungry, but don’t expect to walk away with any recipe. Everyone gathers for the ‘Burying of the Beans’ ceremony on the evening of July 8 when the beans are buried and cooked over a wood fire overnight. At the Raising of the Beans & Coronation Ceremony, the bean pots are ceremoniously brought above ground and enjoyed by all. I guess the Bush family isn’t the only group protecting a bean recipe. I wonder if Pequot Lakes has a talking dog, too?
Barnesville Potato Days Festival-August 22-23, 2008—Barnesville, Minn.
Minnesota’s hub of potato production, Barnesville, has drawn national attention for its fantastic food festivities. From mashed potato wrestling to the Miss Tator Tot Pageant, this festival offers any and all activities having to do with potatoes. Visitors from across the country will flock to Barnesville, Minnesota in August 2008 to experience two days of zany potato activities, taste tempting potato specialties and small town hospitality. The actual food isn’t half-bad either. You can enjoy everything from lefse and french fries, to potato soup and potato sausage. You definitely won’t be calling potatoes a “staple food” after this experience.
Grape Stomp- September 13-14, 2008—Alexandria, Minn.
Here’s one for the older crowd, every Nick-At-Nite lover, and/or people who just like to dress up. At the Carlos Creek Winery, dress up like Lucille Ball in her famous grape stomping “I Love Lucy” episode to compete in a grape stomping competition. Or, if you don’t like to dress up, you can just be the juice-collector. Either way, it’s a surely entertaining event where you get to watch Lucy-look-alikes and drink a lot of wine. What more could you ask for?
30th Annual International Eelpout Festival Feb. 20-22, 2009—Walker, Minn.
This festival was created to celebrate one of the least attractive fish that find a home in Minnesota lakes: the eelpout. These slimy, creepy creatures are actually at their peak during the winter months, so if you don’t mind the cold, this festival could be just the thing for you. There are activities for just about every eelpout-lover, including the Eelpout Peelout 5-Mile run, Eelpout Bowl Rugby Tournament, AquaVu Eelpout 500 ‘On-Ice’ Auto Race, and Eelpout Idol Karaoke Contest. Just make sure you bundle up!