Carpinteria Avocado Festival Doesn’t Disappoint

By Robert Bernstein

Here are all of my photos from the California Avocado Festival in Carpinteria!

This happy avocado greeted us upon arrival

Linden Avenue was packed with people, especially in the food area

The Grotto and Guacamole Stage tent offered a dining area and refuge from a hot day and a chance to listen to live music

Posters of past festivals hung from the ceiling.
One Festival slogan: Peace, Love and Guacamole

Music was happening on several other stages, too!

Solstice artists Lisa Thomas and Carlos Cuellar were enjoying this performance

Avocado food offerings varied widely

Avocado Brownies:

Avocado chocolate truffles which were rich and creamy:

The famous Avocado Ice Cream which was very popular for good reason

And lots and lots of locally grown avocados of many varieties!

This Western Hole Avocado variety was new to me. You can eat the skin, too, which makes it a lot easier to eat! It was delicious!

The George Bliss Avocado Exposition was a big tent with a big avocado outside to pose with

Here was another avocado posing opportunity

Inside the tent were more avocados and people explaining how they are grown, their history and the many varieties. They explained that many Mexican varieties have skins that can be eaten. Who knew?

Denny Luby showed off his avocado tinted beard! He said it was easier than color matching with hair coloring and hoped he would start a trend.

Plenty of avocado themed t-shirts, including “Powered by Avocados”, “Avocado Addict” and “Avoholic”

And plenty of other clothing being sold with no avocado connection
Nima of Monkey Temple Imports sold us these Monkey Pants

Nima is from Nepal and you might recognize him from past Fiesta mercados where he sold some very creative hats from Nepal.

And here we bought some beautiful Guatemalan outfits from this woman from Antigua

Fairy Lady Lesley Bronson was selling her fairy outfits for children and adults of all ages

Here Lesley is posing with John Palminteri

John struck another pose with me

As a skateboarding hot dog strolled by

This lovely woman was proud to show off the clothing and jewelry she had just bought

A Ferris Wheel added to the entertainment and offered a chance to get above it all

Pirate Captain S Rokk entertained with magic

And this couple in pirate hats strolled by

The Carpinteria Arts Center offered a variety of arts and crafts

And there was an avocado art competition

If you missed the Avocado Festival this year, be sure to come next year!