FABULOUS FRUIT TREES? They may fill your neighborhood, or dot certain streets around the local school or public garden, or they may add beauty and flavor to your own backyard. But can you identify all of the many arboreal wonders that grow so magnificently around the Golden State? It's not always a snap, especially when we can mix up our citrus trees (a delightful mix up, as any citrus is good citrus). But an avocado tree? In the annals of unmistakable sights, the branches that produce the alligator pears are pretty high up there. Once you've seen the particular long leaves, and the distinctive greenness they rock, you'll be able to spy avocado trees from several yards away. But you won't need your tree-identifying skills over the first full weekend in October, should you be in Carpinteria, just a couple of blocks from the beach, and should you be searching out some guacamole, or avocado ice cream, at...
AVOFEST, or, if you prefer, the California Avocado Festival. The luscious, eat-tacular marked three decades in 2016, making it one of the titans of the California fruit festival scene. The 2017, which will ripen from Friday, Oct. 6 through Sunday, Oct. 8, will feature a host of foodstuffs made with the green-skin'd icon, including the traditional and the offbeat (hi, dessert). An AvoEXPO Tent will look into the growing of avocados, from the history of the fruit to "lessons in avocado grafting." Arts and crafts, kid to-dos, and a host of live rockin' acts on a quartet of stages make this three-dayer one of the biggies. And the cost to walk-in? Zero dollars. You just may sharpen your avo-knowledge, and you'll definitely fill your avo-lovin' tum if you show with the dollars to try all of the avocado-themed dishes for sale. Plus, pretty Carp? It just might be one of the planet's most perfect places over the first week of October, weather-wise, sunshine-wise, avocado-devouring-opportunities-wise. It's a fact, as true as avocados have sizable, pit-tastic seeds.
