Saturday, June 30, 10am-5pm, Westgate Park, 455 S. Westgate Ave.

The Hilltop Bean Festival is an 80-year-old tradition that is held every June in Columbus’ Westgate Park. Despite the name, we don’t sit around a table eating beans! This event is a family-friendly festival remembering the history that made the Columbus west side what it is today.

During the Civil War, the area now known as Westgate Park had been a Civil War prison camp called “Camp Chase.”

While Westgate is now a gorgeous neighborhood, it used to be a very-feared place by the Confederate soldiers. The soldiers were fed a ration of beans twice a day.

While we remember the nation divided during the Civil War, the Hilltop Bean Festival unites people from all around Columbus in this one-day event of music, a variety of foods (including the famous beans), arts and crafts vendors, and an antique car show.