Willmar, Minnesota's Kaffe Fest began in 1946 as a summer celebration named from the Swedish term for coffee festival and grew from the community's strong coffee culture, which was promoted by local businessmen, a Willmar Daily Tribune survey of coffee consumption, and the unusual Willmar Saucer Drinking Society. The first festival featured a 250-foot downtown coffee bar where around 20,000 cups of free coffee were consumed during the three-day event, and annual celebrations came to include parades, carnivals, square dances, ball games, concerts, free circus acts, contests, and the crowning of a queen. A locally built eight-foot coffee pot rode in the grand parade from 1947 until 1958, then was repaired, repainted, and placed atop the Chamber of Commerce building on West Litchfield Avenue as a welcome sign. The tradition continued from 1946 to 1988, when Kaffe Fest was renamed and reinvented as Willmar Fests under a new nonprofit organization. The festival expanded over the following decades with attractions such as Frameries Fest, races, international banquets, parades, block parties, rides, ski shows, fireworks, and holiday events, although the 2020 celebration was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 festival returned with a reduced lineup. After the coffee pot disappeared following the change to Willmar Fests, it was found on a farm near Grove City in 2018, restored from historical photos, donated by Sonia Liedman, and placed permanently at the Kandiyohi County Historical Society in Willmar.