I have never been to the Vinton Bean Dinner, but I do remember the bean dinners at Rio Grande. When I was just a little girl, I rmember my grandfather and grandmother taking me to the campus. There were many trees on the lawn and inbetween the trees they had put boards.. and made tables. You would receive a bowl of beans and hardtack (bisquits or cracker) and a glass of ice water. When I was in college and later after I was married, they moved the bean dinner to Bob Evan's farm, back at the shelter house. They would cook the beans in the big copper kettles, after the ladies of the Bean Dinner Society would clean and sort the beans (my grandmother Zella was one of those ladies). After the beans were cooked, you paid so much and got a bowl, sat down, they would bring around the beans in big 5 gallon metal buckets with a ladle and give you beans. On the table would becrackers, salt , pepper and onions for seasoning your beans. They also would give you a glass of cold water. When my sons were young , we took them, they still remember the older men who would ladle out the beans... and how hot they were... so hot the sweat would drip right off your nose..LOL During this era, they would also have different groups set up tents and sell, sausage sandwiches, pop, and home made pies... Quite a difference from when I was a child. I have gotten to a bean dinner in a few years... always right around my birthday -- in August.. It just isn't the same.... I miss good old George Northup.... the man with the bucket of beans... Hope that helps... thanks for the trip down memory lane Ellen [email protected] wrote: The bean dinners are so nice. They were originally for the Civil War vets and held near the Glenn Cemetery and Holcomb Cemetery. Now they are held in the Vinton park near the old Shack mill. It's nice to see distant cousins and meet new people. My mother had pleasant memories about the bean dinners when she lived in Vinton during the thirties. Debbie -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, 27 May 2007 10:04 am Subject: [OHGALLIA] Bean Dinners Would someone please give a short description of the Bean Dinners? I remember y grandmother talking about how much her family enjoyed them. Thanks. Karen _______________________________________________________________________ OL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL t AOL.com. ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Luggage? GPS? Comic books? Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search.