Castroville Artichoke Festival, Inc., Castroville, CA
The Annual Artichoke Festival celebrates California's official state vegetable, with lots of family fun and entertainment at the Monterey County Fair & Event Center, in Monterey California. We'll feature live music and entertainers, food & wine, and lots of ways to taste and experience the alluringly elusive, and curiously thistly artichoke. There will be plenty of fun for the whole family, including plenty of artichoke dishes you might never have tasted before, chef demonstrations for those who want to learn how to cook artichokes, nostalgic and new entertainment for all ages, an artichoke farmer's exhibit, an artichoke harvest competition, arts & crafts, food booths, wine tasting, and fun family activities for children from 1 to 101!
Since 1959, the Monterey Peninsula has come together to celebrate California's official state vegetable. California's artichoke history began in 1922 when the first artichoke shoots were planted in Castroville, now the self-professed Artichoke Center of the World. 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. Now an official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the annual Artichoke Festival continues to support Castroville's farming community. Our mission is to give back to the artichoke growing communities of Castroville and California, in a wonderful celebration of the artichoke.
