Celebrating Stockton: The Asparagus Festival

Today kicked off the 25th annual Stockton Asparagus Festival.

California is known for its agriculture--we literally feed the world. From the almond orchards of the far north section of the Sacramento Valley to the rich farmland of the San Joaquin Valley, to the wine country of Napa and the fruit orchards of the foothills and Gold Country, it's no wonder that we do. Combine rich soil with a mild climate and you've got some of the best produce in the world. When I came back to California in 2006 after a year in England and a year in Washington, I very nearly wept with joy when I walked into Safeway for the first time. Nothing beats fresh California produce.

Many towns and cities in California have festivals devoted to a certain local food. Gilroy has it's Garlic Festival. Stockton, its Asparagus Festival. I worked at the festival in 2009, helping prepare deep-fried asparagus. It's not a huge festival, but Stockton takes a lot of pride in it. A large chunk of our downtown area gets closed off a week before, and the festival runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I decided I'd rather like to go this year, just to take pictures and munch on deep-fried asparagus. I ended up really, really enjoying myself and found myself anxious to add my pictures to a "Celebrating Stockton" blog post. Most Miserable City? Whatever, Forbes.

There is a large contingent of people who want Stockton to shine.

Before going into the festival,
I took some pics of a lovely day in downtown Stockton.

Center Street is completely blocked off for the event.

I started my day off right, with fresh deep-fried asparagus.

Yes, it was yummy. I don't eat deep-fried foods very often anymore.

While I ate, I looked through the Asparaguide.

Ha! So there, Forbes!

That is fresh, California-grown asparagus. And it was GOOD.

I sat near the kid/carnival part of the festival to eat my asparagus.
Then I wandered taking pictures.

Our downtown arena, home to our minor-league hockey team, the Thunder.
Behind that is a baseball stadium, home to the Stockton Ports.

There is no shortage of aspara-puns at the festival.

Weber Point

I took a lot of pictures of the various "ethnic" cuisines available. I put
"ethnic" in quotes because at the end of the day, it's all fair food.

Outside the festival, on El Dorado Street, is St. John's,
where Chorale rehearses every week.

They were NOT asparagus-flavored.

This man's hat said, "Santa." It's April.

Back down near Weber Point.

Another view of the arena.

Monument to fire fighters.

Some San Joaquin County Sheriffs were there with their K-9 partners.
They were so cute talking about their partners. A lot of pride.

Did I?

Of course I did! It was delicious.

I stayed for this cute little show. They only use animals that won't
survive in the wild.

The dome is our downtown movie theater. There's a Starbucks next to it
that I often go to for a pre-Chorale treat.

On the way home, I took a detour down Stockton's Miracle Mile just to get
this sign picture (I was stopped, don't worry!).