A Lovely Day for the San Benito Olive Festival

The San Benito Olive Festival was this past Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, and the setting—the San Benito County Historical Park—was a perfect fit for the celebration of agricultural harvest and culinary delights. So much fun!!!  Here's what I ended up doing on my checklist!

• Check!  Make an olive wreath.
• Try a fresh fruit juice concoction by Gaspachos.
• Check!    Paint rocks with ARTI-culture.
• Check!   Take the walk and geology talk with Jim Ostdick, who walked across the United States earlier this year to raise funds and awareness for the R.E.A.C.H. Foundation.  (I'm darn tootin' proud of myself for climbing up and down the slope with the help of my cane and the Husband.)

 

 

• Check!  Sample wine from Bonny Doon Vineyard, DeRose Winery, Morgan Winery, or  other wineries. I sampled wines from Guglielmo Winery, Kori Wines, and Divum Wines.
• Build a scarecrow that I can take home!
• Taste olive oil produced by such award-winning producers as Oils of Paicines and MoonShadow Grove. 
• Check!  Paint and Plant with The Garden Mart. 
• Watch Chef Carlos Pineda, the 2017 Gilroy Garlic Festival Showdown champion on the Cooking Demo Stage.
• Check!  Learn how to create a Fall flower bouquet. 
• Check! but it was to Mr. O's Jazz Band. Tap my feet to the sound of the Mariachi Juvenil Alma de Mexico.

• Check!  Sip a microbrew from Grillin & Chillin Alehouse.
• Check out the Venetian masks at the Gioia Italian Art & Products booth.
• Check!  No dancing though. Dance with the Husband to Absurdum. 
• Eat some tapas made by Farmhouse Cafe.

The Husband, our Friends, and I criss-crossed the park several times and still didn't experience all of the festival, particularly the cooking demonstrations, the merchants' booths, the nonprofit groups' displays, and all of the historical village's buildings and exhibits. Did you know there's an indoor model train display at the village? The Husband and I will visit the park throughout the year to see what we missed during the festival. For everything else, we shall wait patiently for next year!

I don't think it's well known that the San Benito Olive Festival is a non-profit organization. The organization, and festival, exists on the generosity of many, many volunteers and donors. All of the net proceeds the San Benito Olive Festival earns go back into the community. Thus far, it has donated to more than 20 local nonprofit organizations.

For more photos of the festival, check out the album at Take 25's Facebook page.

A Fun-Filled San Benito Olive Festival Ahead!

This is what I imagine I'll be doing that day, some activities by myself and others with the Husband or our friends:

• Make an olive wreath.
• Try a fresh fruit juice concoction by Gaspachos.
• Paint rocks with ARTI-culture.
• Take the walk and geology talk with Jim Ostdick, who walked across the United States earlier this year to raise funds and awareness for the R.E.A.C.H. Foundation.
• Sample wine from Bonny Doon Vineyard, DeRose Winery, Morgan Winery, or  other wineries.
• Build a scarecrow that I can take home!
• Taste olive oil produced by such award-winning producers as Oils of Paicines and MoonShadow Grove. 
• Paint and Plant with The Garden Mart. 
• Watch Chef Carlos Pineda, the 2017 Gilroy Garlic Festival Showdown champion on the Cooking Demo Stage.
• Learn how to create a Fall flower bouquet. 
• Tap my feet to the sound of the Mariachi Juvenil Alma de Mexico.
• Sip a microbrew from Grillin & Chillin Alehouse.
• Check out the Venetian masks at the Gioia Italian Art & Products booth.
• Dance with the Husband to Absurdum. 
• Eat some tapas made by Farmhouse Cafe.
• And more! If this old body with no cartilage in the knees can handle it. 

Definitely lots to do at this year's San Benito Olive Festival. And, I haven't even mentioned that the location of this year's event is the San Benito County Historical Park in Tres Pinos. A perfect setting!

For more details about the event, check out this article at BenitoLink.com.  Also, visit the San Benito Olive Festival website or Facebook page. 

Confession Time: I'm an Olive Fest volunteer, helping out with publicity. But, even if I weren't I'd still write about it. Look, I'm finally writing after how many months of silence. :-)

Here are some photos from the 2015 event.

There'll be two olive paint party sessions at the 2017 San Benito Olive Festival.

 

 

The VIP Tasting Grove

Cooking Demonstration Stage

Olive tasting at Papa Joe's Spicy Products

Mr. O's Jazz Band -- They'll be there this year, too!

Our Own Foodie Festival

Gilroy has the Garlic Festival, Castroville, the Artichoke Festival, and Half Moon Bay, the Pumpkin Festival. 

And, in our backyard, is the San Benito Olive Festival! Whooo-hooo! It's this Saturday, October 17, 2015, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Bolado Park in Tres Pinos.

In its third year, this gourmet event celebrates the agricultural bounty and natural beauty of Hollister, San Juan Bautista, Tres Pinos, Aromas, and all that make up San Benito County. It features many of the award-winning olive oils, wines, and other artisanal foods made by farmers, growers, and food companies of San Benito County, as well as from other parts of California. 

All net proceeds earned by the San Benito Olive Festival, a non-profit organization, are donated to community and service organizations. One of the coolest things about the festival, in my book. 

The olive festival offers visitors samplings of olives, olive oils, Blenheim apricots, chocolates, and other foods. A variety of food trucks and restaurants shall be on hand, as well be various wineries and breweries. In addition, patrons can purchase a VIP admission ticket to access a wine and craft beer tasting area.

Scheduled are cooking demonstrations by culinary instructors and professional chefs, featuring dishes using, of course, olives and/or olive oil. Two of the guest chefs are Chef Dorothy McNett, popular culinary instructor of the Central Coast, and Executive Chef Cal Stamenov of the Bernardus Lodge and Spa in Carmel Valley.

Like every foodie event, festival-goers can peruse the merchants' booths for jewelry, fine art and crafts, green plants, packaged food, and other items.  This year, the olive festival offers hands-on activities for the young and old, including a morning and an afternoon paint party hosted by artist Paul Loughridge.

This gourmet celebration has a line-up of live entertainment for the whole day. It begins with the singing of the National Anthem by young singer Joe Fata, who recently competed on La Voz Kids, and ends with the ever popular Mr. O's Jazz Band. Also scheduled to perform are Change in the Weather, Shiloh, The Flashbacks, Folklorico Juvenil, Kaleb Askew, and Zack Freitas.

To learn more about the participants, schedule of festivities, and other information about the San Benito Olive Festival, go to its website or Facebook page.

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Olives!

The olive trees in the parking lot at the corner of Sixth and East Streets are bearing fruit now.  Be careful where you walk. I wonder if anyone gathers the olives.

Speaking of olives, the third annual San Benito Olive Festival is a month away—Saturday, October 17, 2015 at Bolado Park. Our county's fun, foodie event features olive oils, chocolates, Blenheim apricots, wines, and other products that are grown  and produced in our area. To see the growing list of participants, check out this page at the San Benito Olive Festival website.

2015 San Benito Olive Festival

2014

The Third Annual San Benito Olive Festival is only six Saturdays away! Saturday, October 17, 2015, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., to be precise. The place—Bolado Park in Tres Pinos, right off Highway 25, about eight miles south of Hollister.  

2013

This foodie celebration honors the rich agricultural bounty and heritage of San Benito County, showcasing many of the local olive oil producers, winemakers, food artisans, fine artists, craftspeople, restaurants, and chefs.  All net proceeds from the event are donated to nonprofit organizations in San Benito County.

2014

We will be tasting award-winning olive oils from such producers as Oils of Paicines and Brigantino Olio de Oliva as well as various types of olives from Papa Joe's Spicy Products and The Farm Bertuccio's.

2014

We will be checking out Blenheim apricots, balsamic vinegars, chocolates, and other culinary treats from Apricot King, Marich Premium Chocolates, Tantalizing Toffee, Vertigo Coffee, and California Balsamic.

2013

We will be trying out wines and handcrafted beers from Calera Wine, Guerra Cellars, Aimee June Winery, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Grillin & Chillin Alehouse, and others.

2014

We will be having a hard time deciding from which restaurant or food truck to buy lunch—Fired Up Fresh, Kuki's Bowl, Paine's Restaurant, or another.

2014

We will be listening—and maybe dancing—to local bands of different styles, from jazz (Mr. O's Jazz Band) to doo-wop (The Flashbacks) and more. 

2014

We will be meandering up and down aisles, checking out amazing art, crafts, jewelry, kitchenware, gift products by Italian artisans, garden items, and other lovely things from such merchants as  the Gioia Company, Artistic Woodcrafts, McAbee Feed, and M & M Plant Sales Inc.

2014

We will be venturing into booths of the San Benito County Historical Society and other nonprofit groups to learn more about the history, organic agricultural bounty, and the world in general about San Benito County. 

2013

We will be enjoying the cooking demonstrations with olive oil by talented chefs, such as the ever popular Chef and Cooking Instructor Dorothy McNett and Executive Chef Cal Stamenov from the Bernardus Lodge & Spa in Carmel Valley.

2014

We will be tired, happy, and full by the end of the day. 

For the latest information about the San Benito Olive Festival, go to its website and/or Facebook page.  To purchase tickets online, check out its Eventbrite page.

O is for. . .

Olives. . .Olive oil. . . olive festival. . .the San Benito Olive Festival!

I never thought of Hollister as being in the middle of olive country. Probably to some we don't have a humongous amount of olive trees, but the number is surely growing. I'd be walking along and suddenly notice, "That's an olive tree." It may be one tree planted in front of a house, several trees clustered together, such as in the public parking lot behind Wells Fargo Bank, or an olive grove, such as the one at the start of the road to the San Juan Oaks Golf Club.

Brigantino's olive grove overlooks San Juan Valley.

Local historians say that the first olive trees were planted in the 18th century by the Spanish padres around Mission San Juan Bautista. (That's about seven miles west of Hollister.) The mission padres turned the crop into olive oil for their private use. I guess it would be a long wait in those days for olive oil to reach them from the Old World.

The Mission San Juan Bautista olive grove where the annual
Old Mission San Juan Bautista Fiesta takes place.

Today, we have several local olive growers in San Benito County who produce award winning olive oils.

• Brigantino Olive Oil
• Guerra Vineyards and Groves
• Oils of Paicines 
• Pietra Santa Winery  
• Sharobed Grove
• Sons-of-Sicily
• Suncoast Organic Farm

San Benito Olive Festival

In 2013, a group of local community leaders, businesses, and volunteers organized the first San Benito Olive Festival to celebrate the agricultural bounty, artisanal food producers, and natural beauty of our area.

One Saturday in October, the event brings together amazing olive oil makers, food crafters, celebrity chefs, artists, musicians, restaurants, and others from the local area as well as from other parts of California.

This year, the San Benito Olive Festival will be October 17, 2015. The venue to be announced soon. Save the Date!

Click here to find other A to Z challenge participants.

F is for . . .

Festivals, fairs, and fiestas! Olé!

Come summer and fall, we can look forward to the various festivals, fairs, and fiestas that take place in Hollister and other parts of our county. These are just a few of the big ones. 

Annual Old Mission San Juan Bautista Fiesta

About seven miles to the west of Hollister is San Juan Bautista, named after Mission San Juan Bautista, which was established in 1797. For many decades, the mission city has held an annual fiesta to celebrate St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the Old Mission. This year, the event will take place on Sunday, June 28. Admission is free.

The celebration starts with a procession from the mission through the city and back up to the olive grove next to the mission. For more details, check out this link.

Annual Downtown Hollister Street Festival, Car Show, and Swap Meet

On July 18, 2015, San Benito Street and the side streets, between Fourth and South Streets, close  for the 29th annual Downtown Hollister  Street Festival, Car Show, and Swap Meet.  The free event is sponsored by the Downtown Hollister Association. For more details about the free event, check out this link.

San Benito County Fair

Cowboy Boots & Local Roots is the theme of this year's San Benito County Fair at Bolado Park, about eight miles south of Hollister. Livestock exhibits. Live music. Flower, food, art, and quilt competitions. Business and nonprofit group displays. Carnival rides. Truck pulls. And much more. If you've never experienced an old-fashioned county fair, ours is the one to check out.

This year, the fair will be four days long, from Thursday, October 1 to Sunday, October 4, 2015. For more information, visit the fair's website.

San Benito Olive Festival

The third annual San Benito Olive Festival will take place on October 17, 2015. The location to be announced soon. This foodie fair celebrates the agricultural heritage and bounty, as well as the artisanal foodmakers, in our area. Some of the products from here are olive oils, chocolates, wines, Blenheim apricots,  cherries, lettuce, asparagus, greens, free-range chickens and eggs, free-range grass-fed beef, and more.

The San Benito Olive Festival, a nonprofit group, donates all of its net proceeds from the annual event back to other nonprofit groups in the community. For more details, visit its website.

Click here to find other A to Z challenge participants.