Castroville Artichoke Festival is a

food festival A food festival is a festival, that uses food, often produce, as its central theme. These festivals have always been a means of uniting communities through celebrations of harvests and giving thanks for a plentiful growing season. History Food ...

held annually in Castroville, a town in

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

of the

U.S. State In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The city, which calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World", began promoting the artichoke with a festival in 1960, and the festival has grown so large that it has been moved out of the town, into a nearby convention center. Castroville Artichoke Festival 2009 marked the 50th anniversary of this celebration.

History

Castroville artichokes

Artichoke The globe artichoke ('' Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green artich ...

s were brought to California by Italian immigrants in the late 19th century, and to Castroville in the 1920s when Andrew Molera planted an acre of artichokes on his ranch. In 1922, Angelo del Chiaro and his cousin leased 150 acres from Molera and expanded the artichoke crop. By 1926, 12,000 acres in California, most of them in Castroville, were dedicated to growing artichokes.

The beginning of the fair

The Castroville Artichoke Festival evolved from an earlier May Days Parade and band competition. A pancake breakfast and a barbecue were added to the event and, in 1959, a band leader and three local business owners formed the Castroville Artichoke Advisory Board. The board came up with the name Castroville Artichoke Festival. The two-day event is held every year in May, originally in Castroville and, since 2014, at the Monterey County Fair and Event Center. In 2009, the festival marked its 50th year, and in 2011, 20,000 people attended the festival. Marilyn Monroe was crowned the 1st Honorary Artichoke Queen in 1948, Sally DeSante Hebert was crowned the 1st Festival Artichoke Queen in 1961 and the first Artichoke King was Andrew O'Desky in 1974.

William Hung William Hing Cheung Hung (; born January 13, 1983) is a Hong Kong motivational speaker and former singer who gained fame in 2004 as a result of his unsuccessful audition singing Ricky Martin's hit song " She Bangs" on the third season of th ...

was crowned the Artichoke King on May 21, 2006.

The festival in the 21st century

The festival is sponsored by local artichoke companies. It includes a parade, live music, an agro art competition with three-dimensional fruit and vegetable artwork, farmers markets, field tours, artichoke souvenirs sales, wine, beer & spirits garden, cooking demos, 5k beach run, canasta (basket) race, quilt challenge, and a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like contest. The food at the festival includes artichokes – fried, sauteed, grilled, marinated, pickled, fresh, and creamed as soup, and cooked into cupcakes. 2020 saw the festival's cancellation caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The 61st was deferred to 2021.

In popular culture

In the '' Toot & Puddle'' episode "Putting the Art in Artichoke," the title characters visit Castroville for the Artichoke Festival. In the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

series '' Stranger Things'', the character Dustin wears a Castroville Artichoke Festival shirt in episodes 6–8.

References

External links

Official Artichoke Festival web site

{{Coord, 36, 35, 40.49, N, 121, 51, 44.66, W, type:landmark, display=inline,title Food and drink festivals in the United States Events in the Monterey Bay Area Festivals in the Monterey Bay Area Festivals in California Agriculture in California Tourist attractions in Monterey County, California Recurring events established in 1959 1959 establishments in California