Bean Quarter Festival

Last night we went to the Bohnnenviertelfest in the Bean Quarter of downtown Stuttgart with our friends Mark and Biergit. This area reminded me of the Paseo Arts District in Oklahoma City.

Some history of the area. It was the poorer section of Stuttgart's population that originally lived here. Their staple diet was beans, which thrived on the native soil and gave the area its name of Bohnenviertel, or Bean Quarter. Beans were planted in the gardens behind and between the houses, or even draped round the houses like garlands. There were a great many traditions, songs and rhymes to do with beans. For example, once a year a cake was baked containing one bean. When the cake was cut into pieces and served, whoever got the piece with the bean was crowned "Bean King" and held court at a (bean)feast, which ended, after an excess of food (and more particularly drink), with the bellowing of a song with no fixed text, popularly known as the "Bean Song”.

Towards the end of the 19th century there was a great shortage of living space in Stuttgart. Houses were built on every available site. The gardens of the Bean Quarter were replaced by blocks of buildings where tradespeople settled.

Today the quarter has secondhand bookshops, antique shops, galleries, jewelery and craft shops. The night of the festival a few of these shops were open including some entrepreneurial kids out on the side walk selling their “wares”.

But for the most part the area was blocked off to cars, streets were lined with tables, makeshift outdoor cafe, bistros and restaurants, live (and recorded) music venues with beverage stations every few meters thought out the quarter.

It was a fun evening and a feast for our senses. We enjoyed walking through the crowded streets, taking in the sights, smells and music!