HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1994-08-17, Page 41Bean Festival, August 17, 1994 - Page 25A
29th Bean Festival Souvenir Edition
Zurich Bean Festival has a good reputation for good fun and food as thousands rediscover annually.
Remembering the 'ole days
continued from page 2 3
co-chairman; Glen and Donna
Thiel for grounds and enter-
tainment; Jerry Gingerich for
food and kitchen and Herb
Turkheim for publicity.
Cooking Gang
For the first year, the Bean
Festival committee called
upon all village women to
cook beans.
But there weren't two
women who cooked beans the
same way. Mr. McKinnon
remembers sloppy to hard -as -
a -rock style beans. Cooking
was switched later to inside
old refrigerators and now, the
beans are pre-cooked in large
numbers.
Nerve Wracking Situations
Some aspects of the early
festival were nerve wracking.
Mr. McKinnon said long tins
of ham were used and often
the hams were delivered days
before the event - instead of
on the actual day to keep it
fresh.
"Those early dans were a real
battle," he said.
Big Name Acts
The Bean Festival Commit-
tee . recognized from the
beginning that attractions
such as midway and enter-
tainment were needed. •
The committee also tried to
book at least one big name for
entertainment. Mr. McKin-
non recalls that part of the
Tommy Hunter show was
invited one year to perform.
After about four years, the
committee learned that it
didn't matter how big the
name was, so they started
hiring local bands.
Always Had Bean Queen
The Bean Festival was
always represented by a queen
until 1991, when the competi-
tion was replaced with a bean -
eating contest.
Mr. McKinnon's wife, Joan,
remembers buttering what
seemed like thousands of
loaves of bread.
A crew of women buttersed
bread in the former newspa-
per office (where the car wash
is now located) for the entire
day. She said the women
would butter each slice and
put the slices back in the bread
bag.
An interesting point, Mr.
McKinnon said is the Bean
Festival has only been rained
out once in the past 26 years.
That year everything had to be
trucked to the arena.
"We prayed a lot and the
storms went around us," he
said, "It was about 10 years
before it was rained out."
Both Joan and Ray remem-
ber the fun times of the
Zurich Bean Festival.
"It sure put Zurich on the
map," he said.