After a two-year hiatus, the Rhubarb Days Festival is returning to Sumner this month

Sumner is calling all rhubarb lovers as the Rhubarb Days Festival is back after a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic.

Whether your thing is rhubarb pie or rhubarb beverages, there is something for anyone who enjoys rhubarb.

Rhubarb Days Festival will take place July 9-10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in downtown Sumner on Main Street.

Other attractions await as well, whether you want to take a chance at a pie-eating contest, salsa dance or shop at vintage vendors and eat a diverse range of food. There also will be a beer garden, with one of the drinks being a rhubarb IPA from Top Down Brewing Company in Sumner.

Executive director of the Sumner Main Street Association Matt Loeb described the event as a fun, community event for the South Sound.

“It’s going to be an extravaganza of fun, for lack of a better term. It’s really a community festival for downtown Sumner and really for the South Sound … We have events catering to anything from kids to really anyone and everyone,” Loeb told The News Tribune.

There will be more than two dozen food trucks serving everything from Jamaican to Thai, boba to barbecue.

On Saturday, July 9, check out the plant-based Crunchwraps from VeGo Eatz, soul food from HamHock Jones, a multitude of hot dogs from Dawg Eat Dogs, pad Thai and spring rolls from Thai’m to Roll and po’boys from the folks at Velvet’s Big Easy.

Sunday brings a new mix of trucks, including Bliss Ice Cream, BBQ Junkies and Stacks 571 Burgers.

Both days, dig into cheesy sandwiches from Sabrina’s Street Melts, barbecue from Born and Braised, shaved ice, espresso and mini doughnuts.

There will also be more than 80 vendors selling a variety of merchandise.

The festival is a two-day event is open to the public and is free. The Rhubarb Days Festival is promoted to anybody who wants to come and as highlighted by Loeb, a big goal is to make the event something accessible for everyone.

“It’s a very inclusive event. It’s an event that caters to all demographics, all soci-economic classes and also this event is free for the public. While we’re having live music and paying for bands, we want to make this event as accessible as possible to everyone,” Loeb told The News Tribune.

The Rhubarb Days festival is sponsored by Knutson Farms Inc., a family-owned farm since the 1930s. The farm plants a variety of crops, including rhubarb.

Suzanne Kipfer is a founder of the downtown association and former chairperson of Rubarb Days.

Sumner was one of the largest producers of rhubarb in the country many years ago, which inspired the festival, Kipfer said.

“The intent of the involved merchants was to have a family friendly, old-fashioned fair style event, complete with an old-fashioned pie eating contest and bake-off with old-school pinwheel ribbons awarded,” Kipfer said. “We had square dancers, live, family friendly music, the scone wagon, shaved ice, burgers and more. We also sold fresh, locally grown rhubarb and made sure there were a lot of resources for rhubarb pie.”

Loeb said the event is a source of pride in the Sumner community.

“I think it’s part of our identity in terms of Sumner being the rhubarb capital,” Loeb said. “I think this festival really signifies local pride.”

The News Tribune’s Kristine Sherred contributed to this report.