submitted photo/image
The 2017 Payne-Arcade Harvest Button was designed this spring by then-eigth-grader Julie Xiong, a student at Hope Community Academy on the East Side. submitted photo
The $3 buttons are for sale at Payne Avenue and Arcade Street businesses. Many businesses will have specials during the Harvest Festival weekend, Sept. 21-24. Buying a button also makes those hunting for the medallion eligible for a $250 prize. submitted image
The hunt runs Sept. 9-19
It’s September — fall already, if you can believe it — and that means the Payne-Arcade Harvest Festival is right around the corner, the weekend of Sept. 23.
This year, there’s a new activity to participate in — a medallion hunt — which begins Sept. 9. Those who purchase a Harvest Festival button will be eligible to win $250 if they find the medallion. Those who find it but do not have a button are eligible to win $125, with another $125 donated to a charity.
The medallion will be hidden within the boundaries of Larpenteur Avenue, East Seventh Street, Johnson Parkway and Interstate 35E.
The hunt is co-sponsored by the St. Paul East Side Lions Club and the Arcade-Phalen American Legion Post 577, which holds the gambling license for the medallion hunt.
“On public ground it can be found, avoid private property, golf courses, schools, churches, and businesses. Avoid all landscaped features, and respect natural wild flower areas,” read the rules on the Payne Arcade Business Association website.
Tracy Nelson, a member of the Lions Club and the organizer behind the Harvest Festival buttons, said over the years many East Side residents approached the club about a medallion hunt. However, because the Lions do not have a gambling license, they were unable to host it.
Nelson said the American Legion approached the Lions to let them know they had a gambling license and they could co-sponsor a medallion hunt. With that, they decided to give it a go.
What’s the deal with these buttons?
This year’s Harvest Festival buttons, which can be purchased for $3, were designed by Julie Xiong, who at the time of designing the button, was an eighth-grader at Hope Community Academy.
Xiong said she was “shocked” to learn she had won.
As the winning designer, she will have a spot in the Sept. 23 parade, which begins at noon, and will also be a guest of honor at the Sept. 20 kick-off dinner and pancake breakfast on Sept. 23.
This will be Xiong’s first time attending the Harvest Festival, and she said she’s looking forward to it, adding it’s fun knowing people will be wearing her artwork around on the East Side.
“I think it’s really cool,” she said.
For the past few years, the East Side Lions Club has gone out to the East Side schools with its drawing contest for the Harvest Festival button design contest.
Students in each classroom vote for their favorite drawing among their peers and then the Lions choose the winning drawing from the classroom winners, with that drawing going on the Harvest Festival button.
East Side businesses sell the buttons and offer specials for button-wearers during the Harvest Festival weekend. Button discounts are good Sept. 21-24 at participating East Side businesses.
Many businesses are still selling Harvest Festival buttons, so it’s not too late to pick one up.
Money raised by the button sales go to support next year’s parade
Returning to it’s glory
While the Harvest Festival had been the biggest parade and festival on the East Side of St. Paul for much of the 20th century, the Great Recession and the loss of East Side businesses shrunk the event. From 2007 to 2012, there was no parade.
Anne Dejoy, a member of the Payne Arcade Business Association, a volunteer-run association that organizes much of the Harvest Festival, said during those years, there just weren’t enough volunteers and resources to keep the parade, ambassador program and other activities going.
As the East Side experiences some recent revitalization, and new businesses like Brunson’s Bar, East Side Pizzeria and Caydence Coffee open, there are more people to volunteer their time and resources, and this year it shows.
Another new addition to the festival will be a cultural performance stage in the public parking lot at the intersection of York and Payne avenues. There will also be booya-to-go on Sept. 23 during the pancake breakfast and a bundt cake contest at the Sept. 20 dinner.
“Who doesn’t love bundt cake?” Nelson asked.
While the parade’s grand marshal and other details are being finalized, look in the Review’s upcoming editions for more details about the Harvest Festival.
Medallion hunt rules
Those who purchase buttons must register their button before the fourth clue is released to be eligible for the full prize. Registration can be done on the Lions’ website at www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/st_paul_east_side.
There will be 10 clues posted beginning Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. on the Payne-Arcade Harvest Festival 2017 Facebook page, the St. Paul East Side Lions Club website and at www.paba-stpaul.org.
Posted clues will appear daily at the same time until Sept. 19. If the medallion is not found by 10 p.m. on the final day, one bonus clue will be released the following morning at 9 a.m., detailing it’s location.
The finder of the medallion will be allowed to keep it and will also get to ride in the Sept. 23 parade. They will also be acknowledged at the Harvest Festival kick-off dinner Sept. 20 at the Arcade-Phalen American Legion.
- IF YOU GO -
• Sept. 9 through 19: Harvest Festival medallion hunt - Clues will be posted each day on the Payne-Arcade Harvest Festival 2017 Facebook page, as well as the the St. Paul East Side Lions Club website, www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/st_paul_east_side, and at www.paba-stpaul.org.
• Wednesday, Sept. 20, 6 p.m.: The Harvest Festival Dinner will take place at the Arcade-Phalen American Legion Post 577, 1129 Arcade St. The dinner will be buffet style and tickets can be purchased in advance for $20 on the St. Paul East Side Lions Club website or for $25 at the door. The dinner will recognize the medallion hunt winner, acknowledge the business or organization that sold the most buttons and celebrate Julie Xiong, who won the drawing contest for the button design this year. The dinner will also include a bundt cake contest.
• Thursday, Sept. 21 through Sunday, Sept. 24: Harvest Festival button specials will be available at many Arcade Street and Payne Avenue businesses. Look for the “Buttons Available Here” signs.
• Friday, Sept. 22, 6 p.m.: This year’s Hot Dog Eating Contest will take place at Brunson’s Pub, 956 Payne Ave. Teams of four people each will compete. The cost to enter is $25 per person or $100 for a four-member team. The contest is sponsored by local businesses to compete for the coveted “Wiener Award.”
• Saturday, Sept. 23, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. (or until gone): The Lions 5th Annual Pancake Breakfast and the first booya-to-go will take place at Arlington Hills Lutheran Church, 1115 Greenbrier St. Tickets can be purchase ahead of time on the St. Paul East Side Lions Club website for $6 per adult. Kids under 5 eat for free, youth ages 5 to 12 are $4 and adults are $8 at the door, or $6 at the door with a Harvest Festival button. Also new at the breakfast is booya-to-go starting at 8 a.m., until it’s gone. Booya can be purchased for $15 for a half gallon or $25 for a gallon and is sponsored by Porky’s Bar and the East Side Wrestling Club.
• Saturday, Sept. 23, noon: The Payne Arcade Harvest Festival Parade will begin at Rose Avenue and head south. There will be plenty of post-parade activities in the afternoon, like the Salvation Army Marketplace, music and specials at Ward 6 restaurant, button specials at Porky’s bar, and an open house at the East Side YMCA. Cultural performances, info booths, crafts, and artists from Art in the Hollow will be set up in the public parking lot at Payne and York avenue.
• Sunday, Sept. 24, 7:30 a.m. check in, 9 a.m. start time: The East Side Wrestling Club’s “Run Like a Wrestler 5K” will take place at Keller Lake across the border in Maplewood. Participants can register ahead of time at www.eswc.weebly.com.
Marjorie Otto can be reached at 651-748-7816 or at eastside@lillienews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @EastSideM_Otto
Copyright 2017 Lillie Suburban Newspapers.