National Lentil Festival

The National Lentil Festival is an annual festival in Pullman, Washington.

National Lentil Festival
Statusactive
GenreFood
Date(s)1989
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)Pullman, Washington, U.S.
CountryUnited States of America
Years active28
SponsorUSA Dry Pea and Lentil Council
Websitewww.lentilfest.com

Activities

Each year, the citizens of Pullman, Washington congregate to enjoy, celebrate, and revel at The National Lentil Festival, a food festival honoring the lentil.

The festival takes place every year the weekend before classes resume at Washington State University, also in Pullman. There are many things to see and do at the National Lentil Festival, Friday night includes live musical entertainment, a kids' carnival, free lentil chili and many business and craft vendors. Saturday's events include contests, The Lentil Cook-Off, many art and business vendors, a grand parade, lentil pancake breakfast, the Tase T. Lentil 5K Fun Run/Walk, beer garden, food court featuring lentil dishes, a large kids area and many other great family activities.

Cook-off

A major highlight of this award-winning festival is the Legendary Lentil Cook Off. It is sponsored annually by the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, a non-profit organization founded in 1965 for the purpose of promoting and protecting those engaged in growing, processing, warehousing, and merchandising peas, lentils and chickpeas.[1]

History

The original festival was organized in 1989. The objectives of the festival were to promote tourism to the Palouse Region and to promote the locally grown pulses, particularly lentils. At the time of the original festival, the lentil was selected because over 98% of the United States crop of lentils was then grown in the Palouse. The initial festival drew a crowd of approximately 4,000 people.[2] The only festival casualty was in 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic caused officials to scrap the festival & defer to 2021.

Each year The National Lentil Festival is organized with the help of The Pullman Chamber of Commerce and a festival committee in addition to the many volunteers that help make the event run smoothly.

The Palouse region grows 18% (2017) of all the lentils in the US, according to the festival's website.

References
  1. "USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, Information". USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council. 2010.
  2. Whitman County Gazette, Colfax, Washington, September 28, 1989
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