Meredith, the granddaughters (Addy and Alice), and I had the pleasure of visiting the Avocado Festival in “downtown” Fallbrook this morning. It was the first time we’d gone in a few years. It was canceled in 2020 when COVID hit and wasn’t held in 2021. This year was the 37th festival.
It was great to see the festival back at full bore. A reported 450 vendors set up tented exhibits and there were plenty of entertainment and food choices. Attendance was expected to approach 100,000 over the course of the day.
We went pretty early, around 9:30 am, and only stayed about an hour, enough time to walk up and down the festival grounds on Main Street (it’s officially Main Avenue, but I can’t bring myself to use that) and blocks to the east and west of Main.
The grandgirls enjoyed lemonade, guacamole, avocado ice cream. I find my focus to be people-watching and marveling at the range of products and services that put up exhibits at these local fests.
Addy shared some of the guac with me. I didn’t realize until I was preparing this post and working with the photos that I had dressed in pretty much avocado color. Had not been an intent. (Addy, on the other hand, made a point of wearing her avocado hat.)
We also spent a little time at the festival stage for some dancing and colorful costumes.
Fallbrook calls itself the “Avocado Capital of the World.” That title had more clout before 1997 when the US lifted a ban on the import of avocados from Mexico that had been in place since 1914. When the ban had been in effect, 90 percent of avocados consumed by Americans were grown in Southern California, and Fallbrook had many avocado groves.
The festival celebrates the community and all things avocado. There are contests for avocado costumes (Awesome Avocado Attire), best guacamole (duh), Avo 500 Avocado Race, Best Dressed Avocado, and Little Mister and Miss Avocado.
There’s avocado ice cream and avocado fudge, of course, but this product was new to me.
Fallbrook being something of an artists’ colony, there are also avocado-based art exhibits and contests. (Sorry for the reflections in the window.)
The “pit” of avocado-themed products in Fallbrook is this place.
And, if there is a chance to get a lot of people around, another SoCal interest shows up — vintage cars. There were maybe a dozen autos in the exhibit sponsored by the Fallbrook Vintage Car Club at the festival, but it was mainly a promotion of their upcoming annual show to take place on May 26 and on Fallbrook’s Main Street. Dozens of cars will be on exhibit then.
