By Gary Lloyd
PINSON — The ninth annual Alabama Butterbean Festival is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 3 and Saturday, Oct. 4 in downtown Pinson.
Festival hours are from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The two-day event debuted in 2006, and the 2010 festival was highlighted by Guinness World Records’ official recognition of the world’s largest pot of baked beans, which was 1,010.65 gallons. The Clay-Pinson Chamber of Commerce took over the festival’s operation in 2011.
Clay-Pinson Chamber of Commerce Director Ronnie Dixon, left, with Alabama Butterbean Festival mascot, Bucky the Butterbean
photo by Lee Weyhrich
Clay-Pinson Chamber of Commerce Director Ronnie Dixon gave a preliminary report on the festival at the Sept. 18 Pinson City Council meeting. At the time of the meeting, 18 food vendors had signed up, six more than ever before.
“I’ve been real excited about the number of vendors that are coming back, from out of state especially,” Dixon said at the Sept. 18 meeting. “We have just a little over 100 on other vendors. Officially the registration ended (Sept. 15) without a late fee, and we’ve had five sign on since (then), so we expect it to grow just a little bit more.”
This year’s event will feature a Friday night fireworks show, Saturday morning 5K race and one-mile fun run, a car show, carnival, arts and crafts vendors, food vendors, an entertainment stage, and a quilt raffle.
The Alabama Butterbean Festival was started by Palmerdale Homesteads Community Center as an effort to raise money for the renovation of the Palmerdale School that was built in 1937. The school is now the community center.
All the festival’s proceeds go to local nonprofits — the Pinson Education Foundation, Salvation Army Angel Tree and the Jimmie Hale Mission.
For a schedule of performers on the entertainment stage or more information, visit www.albutterbeanfestival.org.
Lee Weyhrich contributed to this story.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
