Most of all, celebrate the beans.

That's what Farmington intends to do later this month when the city plays host to the inaugural Minnesota Soybean Festival.

It's the first festival of its kind in Minnesota, and, according to organizers, only the third in the nation.

The goal is to celebrate a major Minnesota and local crop and put traditional downtown Farmington, sometimes forgotten amid the city's suburban sprawl, on the map.

"The downtown business association really wanted to have more events and festivals happening downtown," said Vida Raine, the festival chairwoman and co-owner of Buds and Bytes, a computer repair and floral shop on Oak Street. "Everybody does a corn festival, you know. We need to have festivals and events that are specific to things that are special about Farmington."

So in a town surrounded by farmland, where the grain elevator is the tallest building, the Minnesota Soybean Festival, May 20-22, seemed like a good solution.

"The first response was, 'Soybean what?' And then, 'Why?'" Raine said. "And then you explain it to them and it makes a lot of sense."

There will be a Soybean Festival parade and live music. And the downtown area will be dotted with expos dedicated to green building, health and sustainable foods, and educational exhibits about soybeans and Farmington history.

Even the decorative planters in the downtown area will feature soybeans -- if the seeds planted by local students sprout in time.

"We're going to cover six to eight square blocks and have a lot going on," Raine said.

For those who are eager for the festivities to begin, there are already a few soybean games and projects scattered around town. People are invited to guess the number of soybeans in jars at a handful of local stores, and a soybean photography contest, with categories for pictures of beans and pictures of people, is underway.

Word of the bash has made its way to Minnesota Soybean, a group representing soybean growers and those who advocate soybean research and promotion.

"We are grateful that they're willing to do it," said Jim Palmer, executive director of Minnesota Soybean.

About 10 percent of the soybeans produced in the United States are grown in Minnesota, making the state No. 3 in the nation in production.

Yet, Palmer said Minnesotans still don't realize all the different products that include some form of soybeans. "We're a major commodity, but we're sort of a hidden commodity," he said.

Soybean oil is a popular alternative for cooking, and soybean meal goes into livestock feed. Soy oil also can be used to make biodiesel fuel, and is even transformed into plastics, foams, paints, fabrics and adhesives.

Raine said the festival will try to showcase as many uses of the soybean as possible.

And the festival was purposely scheduled for an already busy weekend -- there will be a youth soccer tournament in Farmington and a Scottish Fair and Military Family Day at the nearby county fairgrounds -- in hopes of drawing a larger crowd that includes people from out of town.

Mayor Todd Larson, an ever-cheerful Farmington booster, has agreed to sacrifice himself for the soybeans. Festival organizers plan a "Spill the Beans on Mayor Larson" event to kick off the celebration on Thursday, May 20. The big dump will happen at 5 p.m. in downtown Farmington.

Just how many beans will be poured over the mayor's head is a closely held city secret -- though he is debating whether he should wear protective gear.

In any event, Larson said, "If it's going to bring people into town, I'll do it."

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune