Annual Peach Festival salutes this favorite crop with food and fun
There will be peaches galore at the Marysville Peach Festival this weekend. Courtesy Marysville Peach Festival
Here’s a juicy – and free – event you can really sink your teeth into: The 26th annual Marysville Peach Festival.
Held in historic downtown Marysville about an hour north of downtown Sacramento, this family-oriented fest showcases the area’s top tree crop – peaches – in all their succulent glory. Billed as “the sweetest fest in the West,” the Peach Festival gets everybody in a peachy keen mood with lots of live music, local vendors selling peaches and peach products, fun food (mostly featuring peaches as an ingredient) and contests.
The fest officially opens Friday night (July 17) from 4 to 10 p.m. and continues all day Saturday (July 18) from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
“Enjoy dozens of delectable peach foods, desserts and beverages while visiting one of more than 185 vendors,” say the organizers. “Dance to the distinctive sounds of area bands serenading festival-goers at one of our two entertainment stages.”
Most of the activity centers around 3rd and D streets in the heart of historic downtown Marysville. (That intersection will be the site of the annual peach pie eating contest at noon Saturday.) Surrounding businesses also get into the act with peach cocktails at local watering holes and peach specials at restaurants.
This event usually attracts 30,000 patrons over its short run, say organizers. It’s a way Marysville can salute its signature fruit.
“In the valley heat of mid-summer, sweet juicy peaches achieve peak perfection and are carefully plucked from trees to be enjoyed by peach lovers around the world!” say the organizers. “The Northern California climate creates the perfect growing conditions for this delicious fruit, making it one of Yuba-Sutter’s top 10 commodities.”
The peach is “often called the ‘queen of fruits’ for its delicious flavor, rich nutritional value, and cultural significance,” they add. Contrary to other states’ reputations (we’re looking at you, Georgia), California is the No. 1 peach state, historically leading the nation in peach production.
As with most fruit this season, the peach crop is running two to three weeks early with several varieties ripening much earlier than usual. Taste for yourself at the festival; many vendors offer samples.
Details and directions: https://www.marysvillepeachfest.com/
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Flowers in My Back Yard Series
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June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude
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May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs
May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power
May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens
May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend
April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look
April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower
April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact
April 7: Calendulas do double duty
April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come
March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)
March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots
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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 2
Get out early in the morning and monitor your garden’s moisture needs. Deep water and add temporary shade structures for plants that are feeling a little burned. In particular, protect developing peppers and eggplant.
* Put off fertilization until this heat passes; plants need to concentrate on hydration instead of growth.
* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers.
* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.
* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don’t let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.
* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.
* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot.
* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.
* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.
* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.
* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips. Make sure to keep seeds and seedlings consistently moist.
* Plant potatoes.
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Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com
Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening
WINTER
Is edible gardening possible indoors?
Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
How to squeeze more food into less space
Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Win the weed war by tackling them in winter
Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
Ways to win the fight against weeds
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
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