LB County Fair Round-Up - Long Beach Fresh

The fourth annual Long Beach County Fair at First Fridays Bixby Knolls saw thousands of attendees learning more about local food, urban agriculture, and getting immersed in the arts and music scene!

Long Beach Fresh helped curate a selection of diverse hot food vendors and producers outside the expo, as well as local organizations inside the Expo Center’s North room, highlighting all things green!

All photos by Brian Feinzimer for LB Fresh, unless otherwise noted.

Our second-ever Long Beach Grown Urban Agriculture Competition was perhaps our favorite aspect of the event, highlighting the city’s budding urban agriculture pioneers, from community and home gardeners to innovative urban farmers.

Congratulations to this year’s winners! We had over 50 staggering entries in 5 categories!

Thank you to our 2017 Judges:
Luis Tobon, North LB Crop Swappers
Lori Shaw, Lady Farmer LA
Aliye Aydin, Writer, AGoodCarrot.com
Quinn Jacobs, Pastry Chef, Napa Valley Grille

: Our judges posing with Holly Carpenter of Growing Experience Urban Farm, winner of Best in Show

And here are the winners!

Root Vegetables:
1st – The Growing Experience – Striped Beets
2nd – Sherwood Souzannari – Giant Kholrabi
3rd – Marcella Santia – Beets

Fruits:

1st – Ofelia Rivera – Bananas

2nd – Jose Gonzales – Kumquats
3rd – Emily Quest Rhoads – Strawberries

Leafy Greens (our largest category)

1st – Kathleen, Moonwater Farm
2nd – Jim Coke – Tree Collards
3rd – The Growing Experience – Rainbow Swiss Chard

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Herbs and Flowers:

1st – The Growing Experience – Yucca Flower

2nd – Sasha Kanno – Herb Mix & Flowers
3rd – Delfina Skalland

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Vegetables:

1st – Rebecca Guillen – Red Cabbage

2nd – Paul Buchanan – Broccoli
3rd – Leticia Jason Andrade – Celery

2017 Best of Show:
The Growing Experience – Striped Beets

Outside the hall, First Fridays festivities abounded with extra flavor – from farm animals and spectacles to hands-on activities, and offerings from diverse local food crafters. Here’s a peek at some highlights, for your scrolling pleasure!Next year we expect the event to grow even further, so stay tuned for the return of this epic event – yeehaw!