No Beans About It- Boston Needed A Beantown Festival And We’ve Got One This Weekend

Does it bother you when people from outside New England call Boston "Beantown." It does have a certain "ick" factor. Perhaps, we are going about this "Beantown" thing in the wrong manner. Should we be embracing our inner Bean queen or king? Why not, especially if it's for a good time and a good cause. Get ready for a Boston Beantown Beanfest. No beans about it, Boston needed a Beantown Festival and we've got one this weekend!

The first annual Beantown Beanfest is coming to the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston. The inaugural event will take place at the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston this Saturday, June 24. You can get all the details here, from live entertainment, to food, times and more. Another great event to enjoy this summer in Boston!

Before we get to all of that, one important question remains. Why is Boston called Beantown? According to celebrateboston.com, it comes from colonial New England, where beans and brown bread were staples of our diet. "Native Americans also baked beans before the Pilgrims arrived, using maple syrup as the sweetener instead of molasses. Thus, most likely, baked beans and the original bean pot were Indian inventions adopted by the English Colonists."

There is so much to enjoy at Beatown Beanfest and it's FREE. That's right, you can partake of free food, product samples, live music, entertainment and even bean-themed games. All kinds for fun for all kinds of people of all ages.

Of course there will be beans! Food vendors from all over the area, representing different ethnic cuisines will highlight their bean "renditions." Plenty of beans to go around...from chickpeas, to cocoa and vanilla beans, and yes, there will be Boston baked beans. Something for everyone.

Checkout all the vendors participating in Boston's Beantown Beanfest! According to the website, vendors include the following:

Food vendors: The Sausage Guy, Flavor Boom! LLC, It’Sugar Estella, El Colombiano Coffee, Suenos Heirloom Chocolate, Fattoush Restaurant, Mediterranean Grill Boston

Food trucks: Astound Ice Cream Truck, Just Hummus, Tacos Calleteco, Vaz and Mac

Retailers: Bradford Woodworks (handcrafted bean toss games),  Trident Booksellers & Cafe (with bean-themed books),  Pot Shop of Boston- home of the official Boston Baked Bean Pots, Wayfair, provider of Bean Bag chairs, In-Kind Supporters: Caffe Nero, Bush’s Beans, Rancho Gorda

https://beantownbeanfest.org/vendors/

Entertainment:  Do the jitterbug to the Beantown Swing Orchestra, stay cool listening to jazz from Blue Martini Trio. You've likely seen Keytar Bear performing around Boston, the musician dressed in a bear costume was featured in the movie Ted. Mick Jagger is a fan! And finally you can see the jazz band,  Sleeping Bee.

Fun and Games: Bean toss games, Guess How Many Jellybeans are in the Jar, plus don't miss bean arts and crafts, gardening tips, recipe tips and more.

https://beantownbeanfest.org/entertainment/

All this fun and all for good causes! Beantown Beanfest is working with The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB). Bring your non-perishable food items! They will be collected and donated to GBFB, the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country.

Beanfest is also supporting the Equalizer Institute, which is "a social economic justice initiative of the New England Legal Foundation (NELF) a Boston-based nonprofit organization that will provide free corporate legal aid to entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities to help them start their businesses."  People in underrepresented communities include "BIPOC entrepreneurs, new and first-generation Americans, women, veterans, students, LGBTQ+ community, and others from diverse backgrounds who historically face barriers to starting up their companies due to lack of resources."

https://beantownbeanfest.org/the-cause/