<p>Sweety keeps busy greeting guests at the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival each year as well as posing for photo with visitors. This year’s festival is June 21-22 in downtown Walla Walla.</p>

A Walla Walla Sweet Onion eating competition, live kitchen demonstrations by area chefs, the onion beauty pageant and Sweet Onion Restaurant Week area all a part of the fun during the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival.

Cherished by the Pacific Northwests top chefs and home cooks around the country, the Walla Walla Sweet Onions story began more than a century ago on the island of Corsica, off the western coast of Italy. It was there that a French soldier, Peter Pieri, found a sweet onion seed and brought it back to the Walla Walla Valley.

The Walla Walla Sweet Onion developed through the process of carefully hand selecting the best onions from each years crop, ensuring exceptional sweetness, jumbo size and round shape. Todays growers realize they are not just raising sweet onions, but cultivating tradition.

The event kicks off Friday with Sweet Onion Restaurant Week, which runs through Friday, June 27. During the week locally owned and operated restaurants join together to promote dining locally and the Walla Walla Sweet Onion. The special week offers customers an opportunity to taste the best Walla Walla Sweet Onion recipes and creations. For details about the restaurant week, visit www.facebook.com/sweetonionRW.

The festival, with focus on the sweet onion, offers a full day of fun Saturday in downtown Walla Walla beginning with the Funion Runion. The 5K race starts at 8 a.m. at 132 W. Rose St., Walla Walla. The registration fee is $10 or $20 with a T-shirt. People can register at www.sweetonions.org/funrun or by calling 509-525-1031.

Centered around the Downtown Farmers Market, the event also features the Kids Zone, a classic car show, a grape stomp competition, food competitions, a beer and wine garden, a festival concert series, a motorcycle poker run, the Sustainable Living Fair and a pop up art show.

For more information, visit www.sweetonions.org or www.facebook.com/wwsweetonions. Also, questions can be answered by contacting Michael Mettler at 509-529-5525 or michael@achievamarketing.com.