Stockton Asparagus Fest going strong after 22 years

APRIL 2008 - Now in its 23rd year, the Stockton Asparagus Festival returns for its fifth year at its downtown Stockton waterfront location. The festival is strong as ever, always looking for ways to keep the event fresh and interesting, and offering some new surprises this year.

Set for April 25, 26 and 27, the nationally-acclaimed festival last year broke records once again when over 40,000 pounds of world class deep-fried asparagus was enjoyed by over 100,000 festival goers. Distribution to charities was also a record breaker with $437,107.18 going to over 100 deserving and hard working community organizations, logging over 28,000 volunteer hours. Hopes are high that this year will be even better.

Organizers are ready! Asparagus Alley will serve more of the festival’s most sought after dish, deep fried asparagus, with its expanded number of deep fryers and more serving windows to move the lines more quickly.

The “Spear-Its of the Valley” pavilion, sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank, will again command its site in the Great Circle at Weber Point near the Main Stage, serving specialty wines, micro-brews, and the popular Margaritas and Aspara-Marys.

While sipping your beverage at one of the umbrella-shaded tables, you can enjoy sensational Main Stage entertainment all three days, sponsored by the Sheraton Stockton at Regent Pointe. The Community Stage, in its shaded DeCarli Square venue, will also be offering a wide variety of local talent along with some notable regional entertainment, all sponsored by River City Bank. Check out the website at www.asparagusfest.com to see what top notch and lively programming is planned.

Thanks to the festival’s beautiful waterfront setting, McLeod Lake will sport a covey of visiting yachts, and Leadership Stockton will again offer paddleboat rides in the channel at the south seawall. Channel cruises will be offered all three days aboard the high-speed catamaran “Princess of Whales”. Sponsored by The Port of Stockton, the cruises will feature a live narration of downtown development and Port activities by Delta River Cruise’s valley historian Bill Stritzel.

McLeod Lake will also be the location of the Hole-in-One golf competition, sponsored by Food 4 Less/Rancho San Miguel, with duffers aiming their shots out to a floating green, vying for a $100,000 purse and use of a Mercedes Benz for a year donated by Berberian European Motors.

New this year will be the Bud-Light Professional Vault League Competition at Fremont and Center featuring Olympic athletes combining high energy music, model good looks and the madness of extreme vaulting to serve up an exciting, electrifying sports entertainment venue all three days.

The Arts and Crafts Show, coordinated by the Stockton Arts Commission and sponsored by Peels, will set up again in Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza offering shoppers a wide array of selections from 100 booths. Across the street in the Civic Auditorium Martin Yan will star all three days in Food 4 Less/Rancho San Miguel’s Celebrity Kitchen with celebrity chefs from local area restaurants sharing their favorite asparagus recipes. KCRA anchors will also cook up some asparagus fare.

The Stockton Certified Farmers Market, sponsored by Food 4 Less/Rancho San Miguel, will be found this year on Fremont Street, across from Arts & Crafts, selling fresh produce.

The Deep-Fried Asparagus Eating Competition will return for its fifth consecutive year, produced by the International Federation of Competitive Eaters. IFOCE champs will compete against others for the asparagus title at 12 noon Saturday at the main stage at Weber Point. This year’s contest promises to be especially competitive with Joey Chestnut returning to defend his three-year championship title.

On Sunday, April 27, the Great Spear-It Run will take place in the morning, now offering flat and fast 1-mile, 5K and 10K courses, hosted by Mayor Ed Chavez. Headed by Tony Vice of Fleet Feet of Stockton, the run is coordinated by the Sundance running club and the Stockton Sports Commission, and sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. New this year, another athletic event will be featured in conjunction with the Sunday run: extreme pole vaulting. World champion pole vaulters will excite the crowds with a combination of music, model good looks and the madness of extreme vaulting in front of the main stage Saturday morning.

Of course, this three-day festival extravaganza would not be the rousing success it is, without the 5,000 community volunteers who come together each year to help make it happen. More than 100 local charities will share in contributions made from the proceeds of this event. To date, over $4 million has been donated to local charities.