If you’re going to hold a Sugar Beet Festival, it would seem necessary to have at least some sugar beets – which is why the organizers of the brand new Sugar Beet festival are trucking in 7,000 pounds of sugar beets for their July 13th event in downtown Los Alamitos.
That’s the easy part. The trick was discovering where you could find sugar beets.
“Even though this area was the sugar beet capital of the United States a hundred years ago – you can’t find them around here nowadays,” said event organizer Larry Strawther. “None of the local stores or wholesale produce companies carry them. They aren’t in the yellow pages.”
Strawther, who admits he has never seen a sugar beet in his life, finally tracked them down at the last surviving sugar beet factory in California – in the Imperial Valley town of Brawley – which coincidentally happened to be where the Los Alamitos Sugar Company shifted its main operations back in the 1930s.
So on July 2nd he and some other volunteers headed down to pick up 7,000 pounds of the sweet tuber as they are harvested out of the fields and haul them back to this area where they are being stored at Frieda’s Produce awaiting their use in a number of ways.
“Obviously the restaurants and non-profits participating in the Sugar Beet Cooking contest will use some – for practice and the final entrée,” said Strawther. “But we also plan to use them as props and display items at the event. We’re also working with some of the food vendors to make the beets available as snacks like sugar beet fries, etc.”
Plus, event co-organizer Diana Hill promises there will be a couple other very unique ways of using the beets, but she’s not releasing details.
The sugar beets are just one of the ways Strawther and Hill are trying to make this different from other community festivals. “We’re trying to use local history as a recurring theme,” said Strawther. “Beets is one element, but so are our sports and neighborhoods.”
Regarding sports history, Strawther noted that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the year the Los Alamitos Bronco All-Stars (age 11-12) won the World Championship. “We’re working with LAYB and manager Dave Scott to honor a bunch of those guys on our stage at the festival.
Strawther also hopes to get members of the 1993 Los Alamitos High School football team to the event as well. “They are the only team in Los Al history to have a perfect season – no losses, no ties.”
He has also approached local youth sports groups about having a presence at the festival. “Obviously you could use it for practical things like late sign-ups, and parent volunteer opportunities, but you could also use it to celebrate your organization’s history – teams which won state championships, your group’s Hall of Fame, etc.”
He notes this can also apply to neighborhoods – and they have been working with realtors to host neighborhood booths. Pattie Laird is hosting one for Rossmoor Highlands. “Yes, it can be used to promote a business, but it can also be used to provide information and flyers about a Neighborhood Watch program, a CERT class, or a neighborhood’s history – original floor plans, photos of early residents, a community Hall of Fame.”
Strawther and Hill, along with volunteers Shelley Hasselbrink and Robyn Reimer, are hoping to have participation from community groups like College Park North and Dutch Haven, Rossmoor, Sorrento in Cypress to Los Altos and El Dorado Park Estates in Long Beach. “Every community has its own unique story to tell.”
The first Sugar Beet festival begins the day with a 5k-ish race, which is designed to be a fun way for non-profits to make money and get people to the event. Hill wanted to emphasize the 5k-ish event is also open to walkers. “People can just walk the route, get a good workout and at the same time see some things that make them say ‘I didn’t know that was here.”
So far over 30 non-profits have signed up to participate in the event. There are already over 50 vendor booth spaces and growing rapidly. “Over the last week we have been adding at least two vendors a day,” said Hill.
Anyone seeking more information on the event can go to www.sugarbeetfestival.com, or contact Larry Strawther at larrystrawther@gmail.com or 562-522-6670 or Diana Hill at dhill@dianadhill.com, or 310-720-7677.