A new festival seeks to celebrate the Central Valley’s signature crops in Turlock, California

Go nuts; new family festival celebrates the Central Valley’s almond harvest

A new festival seeks to celebrate one the Central Valley’s signature crops this weekend.

The fledgling Almond Festival kicked off Saturday at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock, and will continue Sunday. The free family event is organized by the same people behind the popular Ranch of Horror haunted attraction held nearby at the fairgrounds this month.

The festival features vendors, food booths and agricultural equipment displays. Molly Amant, one of the organizers, said they wanted to honor the region’s almond harvest, much like the long-running Ripon Almond Blossom Festival, held at the start of the crop’s growing season.

“We were sitting around a table one day and talking about all the almonds in the area and said, ‘Why not have an almond festival?’ ” she said. “There’s the Almond Blossom Festival, which is them blooming. But we wanted to celebrate the harvest and what products are made from almonds."