The Artichoke Festival in Monterey has set the dates for the 2023 festival, Saturday and Sunday, June 10 and 11.
The 63rd annual festival will be held at the historic Monterey County Fair and Event Center at 2004 Fairground Road, in Monterey, with the theme “Thistle be Fun: Artichoke Festival 2023.” The goal is to raise $100,000 at this year’s event.
The annual festival brings the people of the community together with a very unique celebration around a very iconic vegetable. With a focus that has evolved around helping the youth of Monterey County, the festival has at its core an eye on the future.
The festival showcases the full range of tastes that the Monterey County farming community has to offer: artichoke cooking demonstrations by local celebrity chefs; a bountiful farmer’s market with freshly harvested produce from Monterey County and beyond; an artichoke agricultural education exhibit; live stage entertainment; family-friendly fun activities; wine tasting; and artichokes prepared in a variety of delicious ways, including the fan-favorite fried baby artichokes, plus artichokes steamed, grilled, fried and served in various forms, such as in burritos, sausage, soup, tacos, nachos, garlic fries, pasta and even ice cream.
Again this year, festival-goers will enjoy artichoke field tours, artichoke eating and harvest contests, arts and crafts vendors, a family fun run, and the ever-popular wine tasting event, featuring the wines of small production, boutique wineries from around California. New this year is a comedy night on Saturday, a wine pavilion and more. And for the Chef Demos, Chef Brandon Miller of Mobile Paella Party fame, will kick off each day of the festival with a 12:30 p.m. cooking demo on both Saturday and Sunday.
Sponsorships for the festival allow businesses to promote their business to a local and regional audience, enjoy the benefits of getting their brand in front of returning fans, new attendees, and a community especially attuned to a generous and giving corporate culture, and support a longstanding non-profit organization that has been devoted to the youth of the community for more than 60 years.
Thanks to sponsors and community support, last year’s event was a success; the festival was able to give back over $28,000 in cash donations to 16 of its nonprofit associates and partners.
For more information on this year’s festival, visit www.artichokefestival.org.
California’s artichoke history began in 1922 when the first artichoke shoots were planted in Castroville. Today, more than nine decades later, nearly 100 percent of America’s fresh artichoke supply is grown in California and nearly two-thirds is grown in the small town of Castroville.