I had a blast at what's known as "The World's Fair of Pure Food"! What a fantastic way to support local farmers and growers and also learn about growing heirlooms and natives and all sorts of other stuff?!! I love to grow my own fruit and veggies when I can and this expo was just heaven!
The Heirloom Expo is three days full of extensive displays of heirloom fruits and vegetables for exhibition and tasting, tons of local vendors selling all things gardening/growing, halls of fruits and veg on display for contest judging and education, numerous speakers teaching various subjects and holding discussions, a large poultry competition where you can see all the unique and beautiful birds, a fun squash labyrinth and kids hall, live music, lots of food trucks, and of course their iconic Tower of Squash - and more!
I was terribly unprepared for how much I wanted to buy haha! Sadly I really had to limit myself to what I could carry - I walked away with some awesome native seeds from California Native Seed co for my garden projects and a ton of magazines and prizes I won at the Edible Magazine booth (THANK YOU)!!! I highly recommend you bring a mobile cart or at least a bunch of bags.
I ate my fill of so many different kinds of watermelon and apples. I enjoyed listening to several speakers and various music venues throughout the day. Later in the evening, they have a seed swap and anyone can participate- you should bring seeds to share but it's not required.
It started in 2011 and used to be held in Santa Rosa. But this year they were at the Ventura fairgrounds and I'm so glad bc it's much closer for me. They have tons of parking on site for $10 (no in and out privileges so plan ahead). I ordered my tickets online via their website for $15 and the ticket came in the mail - they collect them at the door.
They have plenty of bathrooms and lots of seating around the entire complex. You can easily and comfortably spend the day here - it's also right on the beach!! Everyone is super friendly and passionate about their projects and products. The prices are very reasonable too for the most part.
I hope they keep it here bc I definitely want to come back next year with my cart so I'm more prepared for all the plants and other items I want to buy lol! read more