Green Bean Celebration to include cook-off, camaraderie and a chance to complete a one-mile stroll

Beth Christian Broschart
August 4, 2021

BUCKHANNON – Few things ‘stir’ up more memories that remembering sitting on our front porches and helping grandma snap green beans in the morning so she could prepare them for a delicious dinner. With that in mind, residents are invited to the 2021 Green Bean Celebration which will take pace on Aug. 13-14 and include a green bean cook-off during Festival Fridays and a stroll at the Buckhannon River Walk on Saturday.

Dr. Joseph Reed, the founder and organizer of the fifth-annual Green Bean Celebration, spoke during the Buckhannon City Council meeting and let council members help prepare for the event by snapping some green beans. Buckhannon Mayor Robbie Skinner said each year, Buckhannon residents prepare for the Annual Green Bean Celebration and read a proclamation declaring Aug. 13-14, 2021, Green Bean Weekend.

Reed brought some green beans to council’s Aug. 3 meeting, and council members assisted in snapping them.

The proclamation recognizes that “hunger exists in Buckhannon and Upshur County and that green beans area a productive and nutritious vegetable crop which is easily grown and harvested and acknowledging the many successful activities in Buckhannon and Upshur County and the multitude of volunteers who are the catalyst and workers during these activities.”

The proclamation goes on to urge residents of Buckhannon to grow green beans or go to the Farmer’s Market, purchase green beans, snap the beans and deliver them to the Upshur Parish House to help feed those who are in nutritional need this year and the next. Reed invited folks to participate in the Green Bean Cook-Off slated for Aug. 13, 2021, during Festival Fridays and to the Green Bean Stroll, which will be at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 14 at the Elizabeth J. Poundstone Riverwalk Trail to “walk, run, ride a wheelbarrow, stroller, wheelchair, skateboard, roller skates, electric scooter for the disabled or any other non-motorized transportation to celebrate the activity.”

Reed said this is the fifth year for the Green Bean Celebration, and it began when he was looking for a way to celebrate the many volunteers in Upshur County.

“I was in Charleston for a meeting and the group that was serving had a ‘Green Bean Day’ every week,” Reed said. “I thought it would be a perfect combination – we could get food for the Parish House and get people involved and get people moving – that was the beginning for this Green Bean Celebration.”

Reed said he identified more than 3,000 volunteers in Upshur County.

“I am sure there are many, many more than that,” he said.

“Beans are just one means to an end for nutrition,” Reed said. “By growing beans, people get some exercise and people get food and it is fun.”

The Green Bean Cook-Off participants need to bring a crockpot with the beans and a 25-foot extension cord to Festival Fridays on Aug. 13 at Jawbone Park. Electricity will be provided, and the judges will sample and pick a winner beginning at 6 p.m. Also, bring along your recipe to share. Each entry costs just a bag of green beans for the Parish House and details are available by calling 304-472-2146 or by emailing jbreed1@frontier.com.

The Green Bean Stroll will take place beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the Riverwalk Trail and will require participants to complete one mile at their own speed. Participants can walk, run, bicycle, wheelchair, electric scoot for disabled, ride on a skateboard or roller skates, wheelbarrow or scooter – just no motorized vehicles. The entry ‘fee’ is a bag of green beans, canned beans or $5 which will be donated to the Upshur Parish House.