Horace Bean Days: A Fast-Growing Town’s Weekend for a Legume
Every September, a Fargo suburb that counted 915 residents in 2000 runs a Main Street parade, a street dance and fireworks, all in the name of the dry bean.
Bean Days is Horace, North Dakota’s community weekend (the city, the park district, a Lions Club and a booster club all in), and in 2026 it runs September 11-13. The published schedule: a parade down Main Street, a Friday car show, fireworks at dusk, a Saturday street dance, a 5K, and a vendor fair with food trucks.
No source explains the name. What is on the record is the crop: North Dakota grows more dry edible beans than any other state, and has since 1991.
The town is not what the word “suburb” suggests, either. Horace has grown fast for two decades, its high school opened in 2021, and the 350-gallon pot of baked beans still cited as a world record is historical trivia rather than a standing title.
Here is what happens, how to plan around it, and what a Cass County city on the Sheyenne River has to do with a legume.
When Bean Days happens
The City of Horace calls Bean Days the event that happens “at the end of every summer.” For 2026 that means September 11-13, confirmed by the city’s Bean Days page, the Horace Park District and the city’s Facebook registration post. In 2025 it ran September 5-7, with most programming packed into the 5th and 6th.
Do not treat “the weekend after Labor Day” as a hard rule. It held in 2025 and again in 2026, but the 2023 edition ran in mid-August, timed to the city’s 150th-anniversary celebration. Check horacebeandays.com or @cityofhorace on Facebook each summer rather than assuming.
What actually happens
Per the City of Horace and the official Bean Days schedule, the 2026 lineup includes:
- A parade down Main Street
- A car show Friday, 5-7:30 p.m., with live music from Tripwire right after
- A street dance Saturday at 5 p.m. on County Road 17 by Big Erv’s, headlined by Slamabama
- Fireworks Friday at 9 p.m. (dusk), with a tribute to the victims of 9/11: 2026 marks 25 years
- Kidfest at Meadowlark Park for 2026
- The 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run, Saturday morning
- Kickball, bean bag and pickleball tournaments
- A trap shoot (HSP) and a Mustache & Beard Contest
- An SVFR fire-department open house, plus shuttles between sites
- BINGO at the Senior Center, food trucks, a vendor fair and a Horace Lions Club pancake breakfast
- A golf scramble run by the Horace Hawks Booster Club
Not everything repeats yearly. The Bean Days site warns that “locations and times are subject to change.” Treat this list as a dated snapshot rather than a guarantee, and open the official schedule before you drive.
The 5K and the 1 Mile Fun Run
The 2026 race is billed the “3rd Annual” and starts at 8547 Front Street: the 5K at 8 a.m. ($30) and the 1-Mile Fun Run at 9:15 a.m. ($10). Both loop north-side neighborhoods and finish at St. Benedict Church: the 5K by way of Lakeview Drive and Cub Creek Way, the Fun Run by way of St. Ann Avenue. Every finisher gets a custom medal.
One deadline has already passed. T-shirts were ordered August 19, so late sign-ups are not guaranteed a size.
Why beans, specifically
North Dakota has been the country’s top dry-edible-bean producer since 1991, growing roughly 32 percent of the national supply (nearly double Michigan’s 17 percent), according to the U.S. Dry Bean Council.
That is the whole documented case. No official source explains how the festival got its name, and nobody at the city has put the connection in writing. The crop makes the inference easy. It does not make it a fact.
The pattern is familiar here, though: a crop or a kitchen turns into an identity, and sometimes into a business. The state’s best-known version of that story is the seasoned pretzel that started in a Velva kitchen.
Horace’s world-record bean-pot bid
Horace leaned into the theme once before. On August 19, 2002, its roughly 941 residents cooked a 350-gallon pot of baked beans in a bid for the Guinness World Record for the largest pot of baked beans.
Worth knowing before you repeat the “Horace holds a world record” line: it is not on the record page. Guinness’s current record is 6,840 litres (about 1,807 U.S. gallons, more than five times the size of the Horace pot), set on August 22, 2026, in Kelkit, Turkey. No Horace entry appears there.
The 2002 stunt is good trivia. It is historical trivia, not a standing title, and it keeps good company: several of the state’s great stories are worth double-checking before you repeat them.
Who runs it
Bean Days is a joint effort. The city handles coordination and vendor and parade registration (PR@cityofhorace.com), the Park District runs Kidfest and the tournaments, the Lions Club runs the pancake breakfast, and the Booster Club runs the golf scramble.
Horace has more to celebrate than beans. In August 2023 the city folded a 150th-anniversary celebration (reportedly August 17-20, under its own horace150.com banner) into that year’s Bean Days, complete with a pancake feed, street dance and fireworks.
The founding math is fuzzy. The city’s history page says settlers arrived in Dakota Territory in 1871, a post office opened in 1875, and the town was platted in 1882. Whichever anniversary the city was counting from, Horace Park District’s Paige Shockman told KFGO the day was about “having a huge celebration where the whole community can come together and celebrate.” The line you may have seen elsewhere (that it gave Horace “a more big-city feeling”) was the reporter’s paraphrase, not Shockman’s own words.
The town underneath the festival
Bean Days makes more sense once you understand Horace itself. This Cass County city sits on the Sheyenne River, roughly 16 miles by road southwest of Fargo (the city’s own site cites that driving distance, and the “8 miles” you will see elsewhere is a straight-line figure), and 5 to 8 miles south of West Fargo.
Horace is growing fast, though how fast depends on who is counting. The decennial counts, which we are still re-checking against Census Bureau tables: 915 residents in 2000, 2,430 in 2010 (up 165.6 percent), and 3,085 at the 2020 census, a milder 27.0 percent for that decade.
Past 2020 it gets squishier. World Population Review’s 2026 projection, built on its own 2020 base of 3,249 rather than the census’s 3,085, puts Horace at 7,741 and ranks it first in the state for annualized growth, at 10.57 percent. GoBankingRates put the 2025 population at 7,804. The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (a smaller-sample instrument) estimated just 4,588 for its 2024 five-year window. These measure different things at different times, and the spread alone is reason to doubt any single “more than doubled” headline, including this one.
The growth shows in the schools. Horace High School (the Hawks) opened for 2021-22 as West Fargo’s third high school; construction and supply-chain delays kept freshmen out until October 27, 2021, and even then it opened in phases, with rehearsal spaces, auditoriums and the gym arriving later. It sits at 8100 Lakeview Drive on a 92.8-acre campus shared with Heritage Middle School, built for a preferred capacity of 1,080, a maximum of 1,200, and room to expand toward 1,550.
The growth has money attached, too. GoBankingRates has named Horace North Dakota’s richest small town three years running (2023-2025), “small town” meaning 500 to 15,000 households, with a reported 2025 median household income of $145,801. That is notably higher than the Census Bureau’s own ACS estimate for the period, $138,578 (±$15,631), a reminder that a commercial ranking and a government estimate are not measuring the same thing.
None of that is why the parade is worth watching. But Bean Days predates the boom: the bean-pot stunt was a Bean Days event in 2002, when Horace had roughly 941 residents.
Plan your visit
- Where: downtown Horace. Main Street and the surrounding parks host most events, roughly 16 miles by road southwest of downtown Fargo.
- When: confirmed for 2026 as September 11-13. The festival landed on the weekend after Labor Day in 2025 and 2026, but 2023 ran in mid-August, so check the current year’s dates rather than assuming. The headline events (parade, car show, street dance, fireworks) are concentrated on Friday and Saturday.
- Cost: the parade, car show, fireworks, live music and vendor fair carry no listed admission fee. The 5K and fun run ($30 and $10) and the golf scramble have entry costs; food trucks and vendors set their own prices.
- Getting there and staying: we found no hotel in Horace, so plan on Fargo or West Fargo, a short drive away. Expect street closures around the parade route and the street dance; the festival also runs shuttles between sites.
- Before you go: check horacebeandays.com or @cityofhorace on Facebook. Venues, band lineups and even the fireworks have varied from year to year.
- City Hall: 215 Park Drive East, Horace, ND 58047, (701) 492-2972, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
If the dates do not line up
Bean Days is one weekend a year, and it is the kind of small-town festival that rewards being nearby rather than being planned around from a thousand miles away. If your travel dates miss it, our month-by-month guide to North Dakota festivals shows what else is running when, and the statewide field guide covers the anchor stops that do not depend on a single weekend.
If you are traveling with children and building a longer eastern-to-western trip around it, the I-94 family route and the Fargo-to-Medora drive both start within easy reach of Horace. The full North Dakota Guide organizes every one of our stories by region, route and visitor question.
Frequently asked questions
When is Bean Days 2026?
September 11-13, with the headline events (parade, car show, street dance and fireworks) concentrated on Friday and Saturday.
Why is it called “Bean Days”?
North Dakota grows about 32 percent of the nation’s dry edible beans, more than any other state, and has held that title since 1991. No official explanation of the festival’s name exists, so the connection is an inference rather than a documented origin.
Is Bean Days free to attend?
The parade, car show, fireworks, live music and vendor fair carry no listed admission fee. The 5K and fun run and the golf scramble are the events with entry fees.
Who organizes Bean Days?
The City of Horace coordinates the event. The Park District runs Kidfest and the tournaments, the Lions Club hosts the pancake breakfast, and the Booster Club runs the golf scramble.
Did Horace really hold a Guinness World Record for baked beans?
It was reported as one at the time. In 2002, roughly 941 residents cooked a 350-gallon pot of baked beans chasing the title, and trade press covered the attempt as a record. Whatever it was then, it is not one now: Guinness’s current record is 6,840 litres, about 1,807 U.S. gallons, set in Kelkit, Turkey, in August 2026, and Horace does not appear on the record page.
Is Horace really North Dakota’s fastest-growing city?
By most measures, yes. The 2020 census count was 3,085, up from 915 in 2000. World Population Review’s 2026 projection puts it at 7,741 and ranks it first in the state for annualized growth at 10.57 percent. That is a projection, not a count. The Census Bureau’s 2024 estimate is a more conservative 4,588.
Where do you stay for Bean Days?
We found no hotel in Horace. Fargo and West Fargo are both a short drive away, and the festival runs shuttles between its own sites.
Source notes
- Bean Days, City of Horace and the city’s community events index: the “at the end of every summer” framing, the 2026 dates, and the city’s coordination and registration role.
- Horace Bean Days official site, its 2026 event schedule and its live music and event details page: venues, times, band names, the fireworks tribute and the “locations and times are subject to change” warning.
- Horace Bean Days 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run course details and the RunSignUp race listing: start address, start times, entry fees, the two courses, the finisher medal and the August 19 t-shirt order deadline.
- City of Horace Facebook: the Bean Days 2026 registration post and the 2025 save-the-date post: the 2026 registration categories, the September 5-7, 2025 dates and the concentration of 2025 programming on the 5th and 6th.
- Horace Park District events: Kidfest at Meadowlark Park and the district’s tournament role. The page is clear about Kidfest’s location and less specific about where each tournament is played.
- “Horace celebrates 150 years with annual Bean Days,” KFGO, August 19, 2023: the 2023 mid-August timing, the anniversary programming and the Paige Shockman quotation. The “more big-city feeling” phrasing in that story is the reporter’s paraphrase, not a quotation.
- “USA: Horace citizens set world record during Bean Days Festival,” Just Food: the August 19, 2002 attempt, the roughly 941 residents and the 350-gallon pot.
- Largest pot of baked beans, Guinness World Records: the current 6,840-litre record set in Kelkit, Turkey, on August 22, 2026, and the absence of any Horace entry on the record page.
- Production facts, U.S. Dry Bean Council: North Dakota’s first-place dry-edible-bean production since 1991, its roughly 32 percent share and Michigan’s 17 percent.
- Welcome to Horace, City of Horace and the City Hall staff directory: the 16-mile driving distance from Fargo, the 5-to-8-mile distance south of West Fargo, the Sheyenne River setting, the 1871, 1875 and 1882 founding dates, and the City Hall address, phone number and hours.
- Horace, North Dakota, World Population Review and its fastest-growing North Dakota cities page: the 7,741 projection, the 3,249 projection base and the 10.57 percent first-in-state annualized growth rate. These are projections, not counts.
- Horace city, Cass County, ND, Census Reporter: the American Community Survey population estimate of 4,588 and the median household income estimate of $138,578 (±$15,631).
- “A look inside West Fargo’s newest school: Horace High School,” InForum and the Horace High School overview, West Fargo Public Schools: the delayed and phased 2021 opening, the October 27, 2021 date, the 8100 Lakeview Drive address, the 92.8-acre shared campus and the 1,080 / 1,200 / 1,550 capacity figures.
- “Why Horace, North Dakota Is The Richest Small Town,” US 103.3: the GoBankingRates ranking for 2023 through 2025, its 500-to-15,000-household definition of a small town, the $145,801 median household income and the 7,804 population figure. This is a commercial ranking reported by a radio station, not a government statistic.
- Horace, North Dakota, Wikipedia: used as a lead for the 2000, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts and the 165.6 percent and 27.0 percent decade growth figures. A crowdsourced page is a lead rather than proof; re-confirm these counts against Census Bureau tables before public launch.
Festival dates, times, locations, fees and population figures last checked September 2, 2026. Spot an error? Read our editorial standards and corrections policy.