The National Lentil Festival is an annual festival in

Pullman, Washington Pullman () is the largest city in Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington within the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. The population was 29,799 at the 2010 census, and estimated to be 34,506 in 2019. Originally founded as Thr ...

Activities

Each year, the citizens of

celebrate The National Lentil Festival, a food festival honoring the

lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...

. The festival takes place every year the weekend before classes resume at Washington State University, also in Pullman. Friday night includes live musical entertainment, a children's

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

, 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 A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

, breakfast lentil

pancake feed A pancake feed is an all-you-can-eat breakfast of pancakes popular in some United States locales including Minnesota and Nebraska. A record pancake feed serving over 38,000 people occurred in Fargo, North Dakota on February 9, 2008. American civic ...

, the Tase T. Lentil 5K Fun Run/Walk, beer garden, food court featuring lentil dishes, a large kids area and many other family activities.

Cook-off

The event includes 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.

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 In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

, 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.Whitman County Gazette, Colfax, Washington, September 28, 1989 The festival was held annually except in 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington caused officials to defer the festival 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

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External links

Official website
1989 establishments in Washington (state) Festivals in Washington (state) Food and drink festivals in the United States Pullman, Washington Recurring events established in 1989 Lentil Festivals established in 1989