(© Can Stock Photo / bhofack2) (© Can Stock Photo / bhofack2)
Midwestern

Rutabaga Festival returning to Blyth

The once-famous Rutabaga Festival is returning to the village of Blyth after a 20-year hiatus.

Jane Gardner was one of the original promoters of the Blyth Festival back in 1989, acting as the event's publicist. She said the Rutabaga Festival was totally embraced by the community as a way to celebrate its agricultural roots.

Past events included rutabaga-themed baking contests, sports activities with rutabaga props, a fishing derby for children, and a family dance.

Gardner said the community took it's rutabaga roots seriously.

"There was a guy who called himself the rutabaga king and he took rutabagas to every Member of Parliament in Ottawa and when the queen came to visit they presented her with a fifty-pound bag and attended fairs throughout the country to introduce the vegetable to Canadians," she said.

There's no record of what the queen did with 50 pounds of rutabagas.

The Rutabaga Festival returns to Blyth on October 5.

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