For strawberry lovers, the 40th Annual California Strawberry Festival returns on Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17, at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, featuring chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberry-topped funnel cakes, strawberry pizza, strawberry nachos, deep-fried strawberries, strawberry tacos, and strawberry beer, margaritas, and smoothies. 

Other strawberry-themed desserts at Mama Carol’s Kitchen booth are sweet strawberry tamales,  Dubai chocolate and strawberry cups, and strawberry beignets. Carol Maldonado, owner of Mama Carol’s Kitchen, has been selling her creations at the festival for more than 25 years.

Another festival favorite is the chocolate-dipped strawberries from the Oxnard Buddhist Temple, where two shifts of 30 volunteers dip giant strawberries into melted Merkins chocolate, which are sold individually and in three- and six-packs. The booth sells about 20,000 chocolate-dipped strawberries over the two-day festival.

Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. both days. General admission is $15; active military with ID, family, and seniors 62 and over are $10; youth ages 5 to 12 are $8; and children 4 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased in advance here or at the festival. A limited amount of parking is available on-site for $30 per vehicle.

There are also free shuttles that run every 15 minutes to the festival from nearby locations in Oxnard and Ventura. Metrolink and Amtrak’s Surfliner make regular stops throughout the festival weekend with discounted fares. The train station is located steps from the fairgrounds.

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California Strawberry Festival (Michele Stueven)

A San Fernando Valley tradition, the California Watermelon Festival celebrates the beginning of summer with a vibrant California harvest on Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to  10 p.m, and Sunday, June 7, from  10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at  Hansen Dam Recreation Area Soccer Fields, the size of four football fields.

This year, there will be unique watermelon-inspired dishes and an expanded Kids Zone. Freshly sliced watermelon will be available for purchase, either plain or with chamoy, and whole watermelons will also be sold on-site.

This year, the California Watermelon Festival will host live bands and DJs, as well as demonstrations from graffiti artists. There will be watermelon carving stations, a car show, and a pinup girl contest. For social media influencers, there’s a variety of watermelon-themed signage, props, and mascots, Wedgie and Melony.

Watermelon-inspired dishes include tacos, pupusas, cannoli, cheesecake, bread, corndogs, deep-fried watermelon, Micheladas, gummy candy, waffles, soda, crepes, sushi, funnel cakes, and Italian Ice. 

The Kids Zone features live singing and dancing performances of popular princesses and classic children’s songs. arts and crafts (make watermelon-themed friendship bracelets), a watermelon eating contest, costume contest, bubble show, face painting, kids’ slime and carnival rides, an agriculture area with a petting zoo and pony rides.

What’s Popping Up is a column in the L.A. Weekly that explores everything new in food and drink

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Courtesy Watermelon Festival