Photos courtesy of Long Beach Fresh.
Local farmers and gardeners gathered at the 4th Annual Long Beach County Fair earlier this month to show off their best produce and compete in the Blue Prize Urban Agriculture Competition.
“The Blue Ribbon Urban Agriculture Competition brings out the best of our budding urban agriculture community,” Co-Director Tony Damico said in a statement. “In just our second year, we had nearly 50 entries across 5 categories!”
Long Beach urban agriculturalists were asked to bring in and place their produce into categories such as “Root Vegetables” and “Herbs and Flowers” to be judged by a talented range of local food experts. This year’s judges included Aliye Aydin of AGoodCarrot.com, Quinn Jacobs, a Long Beach resident and Pastry Chef at Napa Valley Grille, Lori Shaw of Lady Farmer LA and Luis Tobon of North LB Crop Swappers.
“Bixby Knolls First Fridays brings together thousands of residents, so it’s a ripe opportunity to showcase Long Beach’s growing food movement and invite the community to join in,” Ryan Smolar, co-director of Long Beach Fresh, said in a statement.
This year’s winners for the best produce grown in Long Beach are:
Root Vegetables:
1st – The Growing Experience – Striped Beets
2nd – Sherwood Souzankari – Giant Kohlrabi
3rd – Marcella Santia – Beets
Fruits:
1st – Ofelia Rivera – Bananas
2nd – Jose Gonzales – Kumquats
3rd – Emily Quest Rhoads – Strawberries
Leafy Greens:
1st – Kathleen Blakistone of Moonwater Farm – Purple Mustard Greens
2nd – Jim Coke – Tree Collards
3rd – The Growing Experience – Rainbow Swiss Chard
Herbs and Flowers:
1st – The Growing Experience – Yucca Flower
2nd – Sasha Kanno – Herb Mix & Flowers
3rd – Delfina Skalland – Mixed Bouquet
Vegetables:
1st – Rebecca Guillen – Red Cabbage
2nd – Paul Buchanan – Broccoli
3rd – Leticia Jason Andrade – Celery
2017 Best of Show:
The Growing Experience – Striped Beets
If you missed this contest, the next Long Beach County Fair and Blue Ribbon Urban Agriculture Competition is slated for Friday, April 6, 2018, according to the release.
Long Beach County Fair is an annual themed Bixby Knolls First Fridays event produced by the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association and Long Beach Fresh, with support from Leadership Long Beach, The California Endowment and the Kaiser HEALZONE.