Downtown streets are closed to traffic for the setup and will remain closed until late Sunday, Sept. 9, or early Monday, Sept. 10.
The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The first day kicks off at 6 a.m. with registration for the annual 5K Bean Run at 8 a.m., with the Show and Shine car show starting at 8 a.m. along 10th Street east of Central Avenue.
Other events will wrap up on Sunday, including a chili cook-off that wraps up at 1 p.m., and a bean burrito-eating contest at 2 p.m.
Music, food, entertainment and a bevy of vendors will be present both days.
The negatives that I would like to see go away are: booths that are nothing more than advertising for banks, for home improvement stores, car dealers, etc.. Booths that have no beans or a really pathetic attempt to incorporate beans, like a single glass cup of beans on the counter of some booth that is one of those advertising booths. The various attempts at "entertainment", from off key teen singers to over the hill guy band blaring music so loud you cant talk to each other can also go.
Its a bean festival. Make your booths about beans or go away.
What I like: the one large tent under which they sell 50 bazillion different kinds of beans with recipe recommendations, etc.. I also like the hot chicks who wander around in skimpy clothing. Nothing to do with beans I guess but still nice to look at.
I know don't quit my day job.
Seriously though 25 years of celebrating dry beans, who would have thought it would last that long? I still like the old posters from the first few festivals with the animated beans. Those were cool.
Wish I had copies of them or could take pictures of them if they are still on display somewhere in town.