Beaver Dam Pepper Festival

The Beaver Dam Pepper is a story of heritage, resilience, and community.

It began in Apatin, then part of Yugoslavia, where families immigrated to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, bringing pepper seeds hidden in clothing and keepsakes. Those seeds represented home and hope for a new life.

With limited means, they built gardens, preserved harvests, and passed down seed-saving traditions through generations, sustaining themselves through Wisconsin winters.

Today, the Beaver Dam Pepper is known for its sweet heat and bold flavor, enjoyed fresh, in salsas, and in a wide variety of foods. You can find it in chili, soups, stews, stuffed peppers, relishes, and jellies, as well as in everyday favorites like eggs, sandwiches, and homemade sauces.

Each September, Beaver Dam celebrates with its annual Pepper Festival, featuring signature foods like pepper pancakes, pepper pie, Beaver Dam Pepper brats, and Beaver Dam Pepper beer, along with live music, a chili cook-off, contests, and local vendors.

The festival honors a pepper that has become a lasting symbol of the community’s history and pride.

You will always find apple pepper pancakes, apple pepper pies, pepper beer and or course the original Beaver Dam Pepper brat at every Beaver Dam Pepper Festival, held on the 2nd Saturday of September.

Live entertainment, the return of the chili cookoff, the longest pepper contest, pancake breakfast served all day, pies by slice, BD Pepper Beer from Potosi Brewing and more await you!