The Rhubarb Festival began in 2013 to celebrate rhubarb. Suzanne W Pelton, a native of Lenox, grew up eating rhubarb from the back yard: stewed rhubarb and strawberry rhubarb pie. "The fruit (actually it's a vegetable) is loaded with nutrition (17 vitamins and minerals), is low in calories and high in fiber. Just what we're being encouraged to eat more of," she says.

A small rhubarb bake sale was included in a Village Improvement Committee plant sale, to gauge interest.

Turned out, interest was strong. And thus began an annual tradition.