Peace, Love, & Guacamole – Carp’s Avocado Festival Shows Off What to Expect on Your Morning News
Alissa Orozco
CARPINTERIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Holy Moly, get ready to eat some guacamole at the California Avocado Festival!
Taking place this weekend in downtown Carpinteria, the beloved festival is dedicated to the one of the state’s jewel crops. Creating three days full of local farmers, local vendors, local musicians, and of course – avocados! With most of California avocados being harvested on 60,000 acres between San Luis Obispo and the Mexican border, Carpinteria makes the perfect place for the festival.
Gary Dobbins from the festival’s board of directors, and festival director Olivia Sorgman came on the Morning News to show off just what’s in store at this weekend’s event.
This year’s festival will have an expo tent where folks can stop by to learn about the history of avocados in Carpinteria, along with grafting workshops to get involved with local agricultural groups.
“That’s the reason the avocado festival was first founded back in 1987, 1986 actually,” Dobbins said. “We wanted to promote the idea of our agriculture community. And, the avocado industry was at that time one of our largest growers operations. So we enticed them to come on board that we wanted to create this festival around that.”
The festival is a great educational event, but don’t worry, there will be plenty of fun and food for everyone! Over 70 bands are scheduled to perform over the weekend across four stages, including a youth stage sponsored by the Santa Barbara Bowl. For the first time ever, children 5 and under get to ride the festival’s Ferris Wheel for free!
Folks can also join in on the fan-favorite guacamole contest and strong arm contest. News Channel’s Andie Lopez Bornet and Tracy Lehr will in attendance Sunday as judges for the guacamole contest, so don’t miss out to submit your recipe!
On your way out, shop the new line of merch to celebrate the festival’s 39th year, featuring designs from local artist Scott Anderson.
The 39th annual California Avocado Festival is happening Oct. 3-5 in Downtown Carpinteria on Linden Avenue between Carpinteria Avenue and 6th Street.
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