This year, LB Fresh’s Foodways Summit included two contests for local growers and makers. While our report on the event series is forthcoming, we are excited to share the contest winners and participants and celebrate their bounty!
This year’s contests saw many impressive entries, and our judges from the broader food community showed great discernment in choosing this year’s winners. We’re thankful for everyone who participated, as these events aim to inspire and connect locals to grow and craft great food. Photos below are by Brian Feinzimer and Reza Allah-Bakhshi.
Urban Agriculture Contest at Bixby Knolls’ 2023 Long Beach County Fair
Long Beach Fresh Events 
Cheryl’s two first place ribbons! 
Charles Southward (IGH Gardens) with three of our judges and his prize winning root veggies 
The top three leafy greens entries 
Beautiful flowers from SSC 
Top prize bouquet from Jacqui Viale 
Hundreds of locals came through to check out the produce entries 
SSC’s flower crowns were again a hit, this time with the Councilwoman Megan Kerr 
Another great shot of Charlie’s turnips! 
LB Fresh co-director Ryan Smolar trying Cheryl’s carrots 
Jacqui gets a flower crown 
Attendees enjoy the bounty 
Our esteemed judges! 
David from MAYE at TGE with their colossal entries! 
The top three veggies! 
Tony and Dave getting the show started
Leafy Greens
3rd place – Charlie Southward (In God’s Hands Gardens) – Collard Greens
2nd place – Kate Thomas’ (Long Beach Organic) – Purple and Green Lettuce
1st place – Sowing Seeds of Change Urban Farm’s Japanese Mustard Greens
Veggies
3rd place – MAYE at TGE Urban Farm – Artichokes
2nd place – Kate Thomas’ Fennel
1st place – Cheryl Carrillo’s home grown Snow Peas
Root veggies
2nd place – Purple turnips – Charlie
1st place – Cheryl Carrillo – Rainbow carrots
Bouquet
3rd place – Sowing Seeds of Change Urban Farm’s Hippeastrum
2nd place – Kate Thomas’s garden flowers and artichoke
1st place – Jacqui Viale’s tea rose and california poppy bouquet
Judges included:
City Councilwoman Megan Kerr
Resident and local food expert, Cindy Goss
Peter Ruddock of Resilient Foodsheds
Shakira Miracle of Santa Barbara County Food Action Network
Melanie Wong of California Food Policy Council
Bakeoff and Cottage Foods Contest at Sunday’s Southeast Marina Market
So many pickles, so little time! 
Compare and contrast with James and Ryan 
Our incredible judges! 
Our volunteers rocked it! 
First place giardiniera! 
Renate’s prize winning loaf. 
The breads! 
More pickles! 
Madeleine was a great help with organization! 
We love our farmers market vendors, and our judges did too! 
Lindsay from Green Smith Goodness won with her Jun Tea Kombucha 
Janet from In a Pickle with prize winning pickles! 
Ben from Dynamo’s Dills took home a ribbon! 
We love our farmers market vendors, and our judges did too! 
The sauce lineup with blind judging 
Our judges held it down! 
Pickles and ferments was a tough category! 
Judges after a job well done! 
Aca Pico’s salsa was jaw dropping good 
Fermentality’s beet kvass added character to its category 
Pastry Pang focaccia had our judges in awe! 
Top ferment was this giardiniera by Pam’s Pantry 
Judges! 
Proper’s Pickles red onions packed a punch! 
Renate’s sourdough won the bake-off! 
Baked Goods
3rd place – Hanna Suarez (Sowing Seeds of Change) with Herb garlic Paratha, a hand kneaded and laminated flat bread.
2nd place – Pastry Pang with flat leavened oven-baked Italian Focaccia with 24hr fermentation, natural pink beet coloring, and house roasted garlic
1st place – Renate Boronowski (RenateBakes) with Sourdough loaf with CA-grown milled flour from Farmer Mai-Chiddam of Blanc De Mars) with homegrown herb dip
Pickled and Fermented Foods
3rd place – Janet Song (In A Pickle) with Savory Korean umami pickles with lotus root, daikon, and chayote.
2nd place – Janet Song (In A Pickle) with Spicy Garlic Dill brined pickles with farmers market ingredients
1st place – Pam Adell (Pam’s Pantry) with Italian Giardiniera
Sauces
3rd place – Kan Tano with Roasted Garlic hot sauce
2nd place – Acapico Salsa with La Buena hot sauce, made with fresh tomatillos, chile guajillo, sea salt, chile yahualica, apple cider vinegar.
1st place – Ben Harrison (Dynamo’s Dills) with Carrot-Habanero hot sauce, a flavor-first blend using oregano to round out its flavor.
Fermented Beverages
1st place – Green Smith Goodness‘ Ginger Pear Jun Tea kombucha, fermented and flavored with shrub. Made with all local ingredients from the market at SSC Urban Farm.
Judges included:
Peter Ruddock of Resilient Foodsheds
Chef Paul and Dana Buchanan of Primal Alchemy
James Tir of LBFoodComa
Matt Meier from BarelyaliveUS
We must say, our judges had their work cut out for them in this contest! Additional (and equally impressive) entries also included Phylicia Johnson’s Challah, Dynamo’s Dills’ pickles and blueberry-thai hot sauce, Proper’s Pickles’ pickled red onion, Jaime Falcón’s Sourdough smoked chocolate chip cookies, Fermentality’s Dulse kraut, Pastry Pang’s mole hand pie, Dovalle Pasta’s pesto sauce, Hanna Suarez’ kale salsa verde, Pam’s Pantry’s red hot sauce and dill pickle chips, Green Smith Goodness’ passionfruit lemon curd, Kantano’s ginger miso, citrus chili, Acapico’s spicy joe and mexitang hot sauces.
Long Beach Fresh is a not-for-profit community organization, and we are able to continue our programming and support for local food sustainability because of individual contributions. This year, our contests were partly sponsored by Everytable, the contributions of contestants, and produced with the support and partnership Harbor Area Farmers Markets and Bixby Knolls Business Improvement District. Consider pledging your support to be a local food champion, as we plan more ways to create a more connected food community of eaters, feeders, and seeders.