West Stockbridge — According to the website Vegetable Facts, zucchini was originally developed during the 19th century near Milan, Italy, with the history of its precursors stretching back to both Mexico and South America more than 7,000 years ago.
While zucchini is botanically classified as a fruit, it is treated as a vegetable in a culinary sense. In the small Berkshire town of West Stockbridge, however, zucchinis are treated as celebrities at the annual Zucchini Festival.
The festival was held all throughout the downtown area on Saturday, August 10. The town’s Cultural Council previously held the event from 2003 to 2013, but the event took a nine-year hiatus up until last year.
The theme for the annual event derives from the local legend of a resident who would find parked cars with their windows open and put enormous amounts of zucchinis in the car. And there was, indeed, plenty of zucchini-related fun to be had at the festival. There were zucchini baking contests, a zucchini “weigh off” featuring zucchinis grown by local residents, and a zucchini “catapult” where the vegetables were flung and flown through the air, along with pet parade, live music, a vendor fair, and family games all through Depot Street.
“I think we have had a great turnout today,” said volunteer co-organizer of the Zucchini Festival Chris Powell. “We’ve had a bunch of volunteers, new and old, that have been putting things together the last few months.”
Powell said that the only hindrance the council had in putting the event together was due to bad weather and a tornado watch the night before the event. He said that, usually, the council, vendors, and volunteers set up booths and activities the night before the event. Because of the bad weather, Powell said that participants rushed to put together the event in the early morning before it happened.
“One of the unique things about the festival is that it is 100 percent organized and run by volunteers from West Stockbridge,” Powell said. “These are all unpaid volunteers that all love getting people together and the community building aspect of the event.”
“We did have our doubts about whether or not we could go on today because of the weather,” said Bob Powell, father to Chris Powell and longtime festival co-organizer and volunteer. Bob Powell could be see (and heard) all through the festival riding in a golf cart making announcements through a bullhorn while sporting a hat adorned with zucchinis. “We have seen people from around the country here at the event,” Bob Powell said. “The Cultural Council’s phone rings constantly from all over the country with people trying to get information about the festival. We have several thousand people coming from all across the country to this event.”
Members of the Powell family are all part of the organization of the festival, with Marjorie Powell, who is Bob Powell’s Wife and Chris Powell’s mother, acting as both lead organizer of the festival and Chair of the Cultural Council.
