With the dates now set for this year’s annual Potato Festival in Monte Vista, the event will run Friday evening, Sept. 11, and all day Saturday, Sept. 12, and kick off Friday evening with a free dinner and entertainment at Chapman Park.

According to Linda Weyers, assistant director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Saturday’s activities start at 8 a.m. with the arts & crafts and food fair in Chapman Park. The popular antique tractor display will also be at the park, and free baked potatoes from the San Luis Valley will be served until 5 p.m.

Games and activities are planned for all ages at the 2015 Potato Festival. (File photo courtesy of CPAC)As in years past, a free Potato Field Bus Tour running from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. will give the public an opportunity to learn how potatoes are grown and harvested, and CPAC will be selling bags of SLV potatoes, T-shirts and the association’s cookbooks at its booth. Weyers said that most activities are free, donations are accepted and will go toward the effort to keep Valley Theater open.

Always a favorite with the crowd is the annual Chefs’ Competition and Judging, which brings several professional and student chefs from the American Culinary Federation Colorado Chapter to the San Luis Valley. The contest, which involves dishes created from six or fewer ingredients, will run from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. From 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. a Downtown Potato Recipe Tasting Tour will offer public samplings of San Luis Valley potatoes in a variety of dishes.

Chapman Park will provide venue for arts and crafts displays along with food vendors at the park site, and numerous games will be staged for competitors of all ages. Kids will be the focal point of activities such as the potato decorating contest and the potato sack race, and everyone is encouraged to take aim during the mashed potatoes dunk tank event. Also on the schedule is the “shooting for accuracy” contest featuring homemade potato cannons.

In addition to the festival, Weyers and Marketing Administrative Assistant Racheal Werner have been planning for the 2015-16 potato essay/poster contest. Two categories allow entries from both middle and high school students across the state, who must describe in 250 words or less why they love Colorado potatoes and why the potatoes are part of their healthy lifestyles. Winning essays in the 2014-15 contest were written by Kacey Buttrick of South Park High in Fairplay and Gabriela Rucker of Wheeler-Casey Middle School in Boulder.

The winners receive a $300 adventure pack, with coupons for activities and merchandise, and their photos are used on a four-color promotional poster distributed by CPAC. Applications will be send out prior to the Christmas holiday school break.

Werner also maintains the committee’s social media output on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn, and newly hired marketing agency is revamping the website, coloradopotato.org.