By Melissa Wentarmini
Associate Editor
Libby Lewandowski was 22 when she launched The Dream Bean out of a vintage Volkswagen bus, hauling coffee to music festivals and teaching yoga in the mornings before working the bus all day. Ten years later, she’s bringing some of that festival spirit home.
Stella Fest, a free community celebration marking The Dream Bean’s 10th anniversary, takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 23 at E21733 Braziel Street in Grand Marais. The event is named for Stella, the bus that became both the face of the business and the starting point for everything that followed.
“We started doing festivals with the bus,” Lewandowski said. “It just made sense to bring the festival to the community.”
For the first four years of the business, Lewandowski and Stella traveled regularly to music festivals across the region, building a customer base, event by event, before eventually settling into a more permanent home in Grand Marais. Stella Fest, she said, is intended to reflect much of what shaped those early years: music, community, family and a place for people to simply spend time together.
The day begins with beach yoga from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., taught by Lewandowski’s stepmother. Both women are certified yoga instructors, and Lewandowski said yoga has long been part of The Dream Bean’s identity. The business also hosts seasonal beach yoga classes each summer, typically during July and August, and she said Stella Fest felt like a natural opportunity to incorporate that part of the business into the anniversary celebration as well.
From there, the celebration shifts into live music and family activities. Hot Flat Pop, an acoustic cover group featuring Lewandowski’s brother, performs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., playing what she described as “the playlist we’d listen to on a busy Saturday morning anyway, to get everyone vibing.” Her father will emcee the event, while another brother is also scheduled to perform later in the day.
Throughout the afternoon, attendees can expect a petting zoo, bounce houses, face painting, hair tinsels, cornhole, giant Jenga and coffee-themed craft stations, along with a sensory bin for younger children, hourly giveaways and a prize wheel.
A chair masseuse will offer 10-minute massages by donation, while hot dogs and Dream Bean drinks will be available for purchase. Free popcorn will also be provided. Organizers are opening the backyard area to give families space to spread out lawn chairs and blankets and stay for the afternoon.
“We just wanted to expand on what we do in general, which is family-friendly and good times,” Lewandowski said.
Beneath the games and music, Stella Fest is also intended as a thank you to the customers who supported The Dream Bean from its earliest days. Lewandowski said she has spent the past several weeks posting throwback photos online from the business’s first year, revisiting the festivals, events and people that helped the company gain its footing.
“All of our customers are so kind and supportive,” she said. “They go the extra mile to leave reviews, to refer their friends. We really want this to be for the community and about them.”
Lewandowski said she has not yet decided whether Stella Fest will become an annual tradition or remain a one-time anniversary celebration, though ideas for future expansion — including a possible coffee garden and even franchising — are beginning to surface as the business enters its second decade.
For now, though, the focus is less on what comes next than on celebrating the bus that started it all and the community that helped keep it going.