Saturday was far from sour like the year Goleta Lemon Festival returned to Girsh Park after two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 29th annual festival, organized by the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce, provided fun for all ages with rides, games, bounce houses and inflatable obstacle courses in the Santa Barbara Airport Kids Zone; food vendors with all kinds of lemonade items; booths for more than 20 non-profit organizations; and the annual pastry eating contests.
Pie eating contests are held on both Saturday and Sunday during the festival, with 10 participants chosen for each contest.
One of the winners of Saturday’s pie-eating contest was Hien Dang, who joked about achieving a goal with the contest.
“You know, there are goals you have in your life: graduate high school, graduate college, get a job. Earning that is right up there,” Dang said. “I want to dedicate this to all the people who think they don’t have a chance. There’s always a shot.”
Participants quickly eat a pie as the crowd cheers them on in the annual pie-eating contest at the Goleta Lemon Fest on Saturday. (Photo by Serena Guentz/Noozhawk)
Saturday also saw the 15th Annual Goleta Fall Classic Car Show.
The festival commemorates Goleta’s history in lemon harvesting, when California’s first commercial lemon trees were planted at the Stow House in Goleta in 1875.
The first Goleta Lemon Festival was held in 1949 as a small street festival, and now the annual event attracts more than 40,000 community members, visitors, leaders and non-profit organizations.
“It’s been great. A lot of people came out today,” said Mary Lynn Harms-Romo of the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce. “Everybody is super excited.”
Harms-Romo said the festival takes four to six months to plan each year and was organized with the help of more than 200 volunteers and more than 55 sponsors, with Rusty’s Pizza be the main sponsor of the festival.
“Thank you to all the volunteers,” Harms-Romo said. “Without them, we couldn’t do this.”
A man looks at one of the classic cars featured at the 15th annual Goleta Fall Classic Car Show during the Goleta Lemon Fest on Saturday. (Photo by Serena Guentz/Noozhawk)
Some of the festival food vendors included its ice, Dave’s dogs i Elubia’s kitchenamong others, and sweets such as lemon cake and lemon bars were also served.
Lemonade, lemon-flavored churros, and even lemon ale were featured, and plenty of lemon-themed merchandise was available at vendor booths.
The Goleta Lemon Festival will continue Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Girsh Park, 7050 Phelps Road. Sunday’s pie-eating contests will begin at noon, and there will be other activities, entertainment, food and more throughout the day.
— Noozhawk writer Serena Guentz can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews i @NoozhawkBiz. connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
Children play and ride toy tractors in the Santa Barbara Airport Kids Zone at the Goleta Lemon Fest on Saturday. (Photo by Serena Guentz/Noozhawk)
