Zurich Citizens News, 1981-08-20, Page 14Page 14
Citizens News August 20, 1981
Bean festivals of previous years
This is the sixteenth an-
nual Bean Festival in
Zurich. Highlights of the
others are given below:
August 27, 1966 - the first
Bean Festival
According to this
newspaper, the object of the
festival was to feed visitors
both beans and old-fashioned
French and German dishes.
The idea was to stress not
only local produce but also
the ethnic origins of the
community.
Officials were astonished
at he success of their un-
dertaking. Close to 3,000
people came, including a
couple from Birmingham,
Michigan in a 1923 Model T
Ford ;coupe Six hundred
pounds of beans were ser-
ved. Forty women cooked
and served the meal, which
cost $1 and included beans
cold pork, cole slaw,
tomatoes and rolls. They ran
out of cold pork by 6 p.m. A
bus took visitors to Charles
Rau's bean farm north of St.
Joseph, where they travelled
on tractor -drawn wagons
through the fields. At night
there was a street dance to
"Bonnie and the Chan-
daliers." Festival money
bought artificial ice for the
arena.
August 31, 1967 - the second
Bean Festival
Between 6,000 and 7,000
visitors came and 4,000 of
them had bean dinners.
About 1,000 pounds of white
beans were cooked in two
large bean cookers,
manufactured here and
engineered by Gerald
Gingerich; then they were
baked in ovens around town,
including the large one at the
Tasty -Nu Bakery. This time
50 women helped. The Zurich
Centennial Band, Ken
Ducharme and the
Bluewater Boys and local
talent, including the Zurich
Lions Majorettes provided
most of the entertainment.
The St. Marys Trumpet
Band "made a brief ap-
pearance with about half
their group in attendance,"
this paper reported. Bill
Brady of London's CFPL
radio was master of
ceremonies for a four-hour
live broadcast. There were
horseshoe ! tournaments in
the park. Donald Oke did a
roaring trade in wooden
name plates and Claire
Geiger sold a great many
maple syrup sundaes.
Saturday, August 24, 1968 -
t-hird Bean Festival
This was the first year a
Bean Queen was chosen. She
was Debbie Merner. The
festival program featured
wagon tours, a street
market, pony rides, a dance
in the arena at night, and a
fireworks display at mid-
night. By now, ham was
being served with the beans.
About 5,000 ate beans though
it was a hot humid day.
4
le,
11
AROUND WE GO — The Zurich Bean Festival has attractions
for all ages including a midway for the younger set. Going for
a ride on the swings was Glen Regier of R.R. 2, Zurich.Staff
ohoto
Enjoy the 16th Annual
ZURICH
BEAN FESTIVAL
Parkins & Erb
Garage
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Specializing in
Gasoline, Tires, Batteries,
Exhaust Systems, Brakes dnd Servicing
• • • • • • •
Jim Parkins - Charlie Erb
16 Main St., Zurich, Ont. 236-4812
•
•
Saturday August 23, 1969 -
fourth Bean Festival
Donna Schilbe who had
been chosen Bean Queen,
went on a week later to
become Rodeo Queen at
Exeter. Because the crop
was late ripening, visitors
had no chance this year to
see beans combined on area
farms, but at least 5,000 of
the huge crowd ate beans.
Visitors also watched the
horseshoe tournament in the
park and checker and solo
competitions in the Town-
ship Hall. The hootenanny
singer, Jay Boyle, headed
the entertainment bill on the
portable stage, and the
Zurich Centennial Band also
played. The festival dance
had been held the
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before, so things ended
Saturday with a fireworks
display.
Saturday, August 22, 1970 -
fifth Bean Festival.
A crowd of over 10,000
came to town for the festival
this time. About 1,000 of
them visited Green Acres
Farm, owned by Kenneth
Gascho, west of town, where
appropriately costumed
local talent were on hand to
impersonate characters in
the television show of the
same name. Forty-two
ponies from area pony clubs
took part in races at the old
fairgrounds. A rummage
sale, run by the Lions Club at
the arena, also proved
popular. Music was provided
2 Piece Deluxe
nd
by The Acadian, the Ger-
man -Canadian Band of
London, and Zurich's own
band. .
August 28, 1971 - sixth Bean
Festival
Well over 20,000 visitors
turned up. Among them were
50 members and families of
the National Campers'
Absociation, . Stratford
Chapter, who camped at the
ball park. Nine thousand
bought bean dinners;
several more thousand, the
small takeout cartons. By 5
p.m. 1,000 pounds of cold
ham was gone and the
committee had to send ex-
peditions to Hensall, Dash-
wood and Grand Bend for
meat. A ton of beans had
been cooked.
The Lambton Youth
Theatre presented a play in
the park. There were also
harness pony races, trips to
Green Acres Farm and
horseshoe competitibns.
Music was provided by a
group called 'Katie and I"
and by the Little German
Band the Zurich Centennial
Band. A new attraction was
a bean -eating contest bet-
ween community officials
from Zurich and Dashwood.
It was a draw. ��_
August 31, 1972 - seventh –
Bean Festival
Again, a record .crowd
came, and again at least
9,000 bean dinners were sold.
nne and one-half tons of
airturn to page 15
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