It’s all about the lentils

Thousands of visitors gathered for the 35th annual Lentil Festival on Saturday, with highlights including the festival’s famous lentil chili, a parade featuring Tase T. Lentil and musical guests throughout the day.

Runners in the Tase T. Lentil Festival 5K Fun Run, followed by youth in the 3-on-3 hoop classic, kicked off the morning’s events.

A parking lot adjacent to the main event in Reaney Park filled up early in the day with children playing basketball and the sound of dribbling, whistles and parents shouting encouragement.

The tournament expanded significantly in the past year, said DJ Makie, of Pullman Parks and Recreation. Saturday had a total of 42 teams playing.

“We could only fit like, four courts in (the old location), max,” he said. “This year, we’re up to seven courts. We’ve got seven different divisions between third and fourth grade boys and girls all the way through boys’ high school divisions.”

Gracie Boyd, Palmer McLuen and Ellie Dyke, all 12, played on team Moscow Storm. The three have played together for about three years, they said, and first started in third grade.

The girls said they would definitely recommend playing in the tournament. Around 10 a.m., the group secured a victory against a team called the Lewis Clark Warriors.

“I feel like we probably should have done a little bit better communicating,” Boyd said, “but I feel like other than that, like we did really well.”

A roughly hour-long parade featured the event’s mascot, Tase T. Lentil, a mariachi band, Pullman High School and Washington State University marching bands and local rodeo royalty, among many others.

Jeff Rumney. ofh USA Pulses, was running a “lentil toss” (a themed version of cornhole) during the afternoon, with prizes including canned lentils, lentil flours and snacks.

“It is just an amazing way that we can give back to the community,” Rumney said. “We are actually a national and an international organization, but our office has been based here in Moscow-Pullman since the 1960s, and we were one of the originators.”

The event featured several musical acts including Blue Highway, Jerry Lee Raines, Snacks at Midnight and Thom Shepherd, as well as food vendors, and local nonprofits.

Jullian Matthews, with the nonprofit Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, said his group used the Lentil Festival to do outreach and educate the public about the Nez Perce Tribe, the history of the land its members live on, and treaty rights.

“A lot of people, they don’t know about it,” Matthews said. “Students come here or people move here to work, and a lot of people are unaware of the history of this land here on the Palouse.”

Around 4:45 p.m., people started lining up for the highlight of the evening: Pullman’s giant bowl of lentil chili.

Pullman Mayor Francis Benjamin was working the lentil chili booth Saturday evening, which he’s done the last 14 years, he said. This year’s chili bowl was 360 gallons.

“Most of the kids here, the size of the bowl just overwhelms them,” he said.

Around 10 gallons were reserved to bring to residents at the Bishop Place and Regency senior living facility, Benjamin said.

“We know that there’s a lot of people that have come to the festival for years, but now, as they’ve gotten older, are not able to come out and be and be here,” he said.

Often, Benjamin said, visitors will come back for seconds or thirds. That chili recipe also is available online, Benjamin said, and is vegan and gluten-free so all can enjoy it. The festival also offers other lentil-based foods to intrigue and delight visitors.

“We have our vendors do different types of lentil foods,” Benjamin said. “You never know if you’re going to get a lentil brownie or lentil ice cream or what. So the people who come here, they get pretty excited about it.”

Sophia Stankewsky, a freshman WSU student, said Saturday was her first time at the festival.

“I think it’s really fun,” she said. “I’m from Boise, Idaho, so we have a lot of little fairs like this. I like the live music. I think it’s really cool how we can support smaller music artists like that.”

Wyatt Hinderer said he’s lived in Pullman for four years, but Saturday was his first time making it to the festival.

“It’s a good community event, a lot of people getting together, and I like to see people out and about and connecting and doing stuff,” he said.

Angela Senter was at the festival with her nephew, Ollie.

“I’ve been coming here since I went to WSU in 1998,” Senter said. “So it’s been a long time.”

Senter said she always gets the lentil chili, and will often make it at home.

“It’s the highlight of my summer,” she said.

Sun may be contacted at rsun@lmtribune.com or on Twitter at @Rachel_M_Sun. This report is made in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting, the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.