San Joaquin County’s annual Asparagus Festival kicks off this Friday for a three-day run at the fairgrounds in Stockton.
The festival has been around for more than 30 years, but asparagus is disappearing as a local crop.
In 1995 the county harvested 20,000 acres of asparagus. In 2017 that figure dropped to a mere 1,300 acres. That’s because foreign imports make it almost impossible for local farmers to compete.
Nevertheless, Tony Noceti, who took over the festival in 2014, says the event isn’t going anywhere.
“It’s here to stay,” Noceti said. “That’s Stockton’s crown jewel and that’s why we took it over and kept it rolling for everybody.”
Noceti says farmers are fewer, but he’s getting 10,000 pounds of locally grown asparagus this year from farmer Jeff Klein, and he’s signed a deal for next year as well.
“He’s going to keep some acres in there of asparagus coming in from Klein Farms to the Asparagus Festival,” Noceti said. “And Jeff is going to have asparagus for us next year. We’ve already made the deal.”
There will be 20 asparagus vendors at this year’s festival, Noceti said, serving up everything from the popular deep-fried asparagus to asparagus ice cream.
“They got the pasta asparagus, the waffle asparagus,” he said. “I mean, it goes on, it goes on”
For more information about the April 12-14 event, visit the festival website.
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