Pocatello Potato Festival returning this weekend
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POCATELLO – A festival for the Gate City to celebrate the end of summer is coming up.
The Museum of Clean and My World Discovery Museum are holding their second Pocatello Potato Festival on Saturday, and the event’s organizer said attendees can enjoy food and fun for the whole family.
“We just wanted to provide a fun, family-friendly event for the whole community to come and be together, and enjoy french fries and all the different activities and food and music,” said Haley Van Dyke, the event director for the two museums.
This year, the event will still start at 4 p.m. but will run an hour later until 9 p.m. and will be held in the parking lot area of the building at 711 South 2nd Avenue.
When the museums held the first Potato Festival last year, staff didn’t know what to expect in terms of attendance.
“We were totally blown away by how many people came out to the event,” Van Dyke said.
She estimated that around 4,000 people attended last year and said organizers received a lot of praise for how much fun it was. This year, Van Dyke said they expect at least 1,000 more people to attend.
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“People just kept raving about how fun of an event it was, how our community needs more events like this, and it had something for everyone. And that’s why we do these events, is because we just want to bring the community together,” Van Dyke said.
So although the museums will be closed that day, people who attend the event will find a huge variety of potato-related activities, live music and free food options as well as food trucks.
The Simplot fry team will be in attendance, providing free french fries for attendees, with dipping sauces provided by Wendy’s and baked potatoes from the Idaho Coffee Company.
In addition to the free options, there will also be a number of vendors selling food, including:
- Sodas from the Soda Barn
- Homestyle barbecue from Homefire Comfort Foods
- Snowcones and sweets from Dodo To Go
- Organic cotton candy from Sweet Carts
- Corndogs from the Corndog Company
- Gourmet strawberry cups from Berry Cup
- Beer from Jim Dandy Brewing
This year, the Potato Festival will be selling aluminum reusable Spud Cups for $8, which will get attendees $1 off beer from Jim Dandy or soda from the Soda Barn.
While guests enjoy a variety of food options, they’ll listen to live music. A local band called Drude’s Heathens and Saints will be playing from 4 to 5:30 p.m., and a bluegrass band from Salt Lake City called The Pickpockets will play from 6 to 9 p.m.
And after finishing their food, attendees of all ages will be able to participate in a number of fun activities, including:
- Power Up Potatoes by United Way
- Make-you-own Potato Head by Southeast Idaho Public Health
- Potato playdough and sensory bin by the Boys and Girls Club
- Potato Car Derby by Toyota
- A potato stamps craft by the Portneuf Library
- Potato Sack Races by Idaho Turf Co.
- A potato dig by Idahome Real Estate and Management
- Free drawstring “potato swag” bags by Lookout Credit Union
“As far as family-friendly activities, we have tons of different activities that kids and people of all ages can participate in with a potato,” Van Dyke said.
In addition to these activities, there will also be fun kids’ games run by Legacy Athletics and a dunk tank from Belnap Orthodontics.
The proceeds of this event go towards the Museum of Clean and My World Discovery Museum.
“We rely so much on our sponsors, which (we’re) super grateful for, for helping to fundraise money that goes back to (the museums), and then providing a free event for families and people of all ages to come together,” Van Dyke said.
And for anyone who’s on the fence about whether to attend, Van Dyke sees the event as having some easy draws.
“I feel like free french fries and the live music, and just being outside is enough to get someone to come out and enjoy,” Van Dyke said.