California’s plentiful produce, seafood, wine and beer are spotlighted in fun and delicious ways throughout the year. Here are a few signature events well worth fitting into a meetings schedule.
January
- California Restaurant Month: Dozens of destinations throughout the state offer restaurant promotions featuring special discounts and prix-fixe menus.
- Mendocino Crab and Wine Days: The delightful North Coast enclave of Mendocino is host to a week-long celebration with nightly tasting events at local wineries, an annual crab cake cook-off, crab and wine pairings by top local chefs, art exhibits, whale-watching excursions and live music.
April
- Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Festival: More than 100 local vintners are on hand from the wine region made famous in the movie Sideways.
May
- California Strawberry Festival: Taking place every third weekend in May, this strawberry soiree in Oxnard offers award-winning attractions, interactive exhibits, gooey contests, the hottest names in entertainment, a huge collection of fine arts and crafts, and an assortment of delicious food and drinks made with strawberries.
July
- Gilroy Garlic Festival: This annual food and entertainment extravaganza, set in the “Garlic Capital of the World,” features live music, nationally prominent cooking competitions and cuisine enhanced with more than two tons of fresh Christopher Ranch California garlic.
September
- California Wine Month: September is California Wine Month, when dozens of the state’s wineries and destinations celebrate the region’s signature beverage with special tastings, harvest tours, wine education classes and festivals.
- Lake Tahoe Autumn Food & Wine Festival: The festival kicks off with the Annual Village Grape Stomp and Vineyard Luncheon, with costumed teams furiously stomping fresh-from-the-vineyard grapes trying to extract the most juice. It also includes free seminars and a Culinary Competition and Grand Tasting.
- SAVOR the Central Coast: Celebrating the flavors of the Central California coast, this event, spearheaded by Sunset magazine, features gardening seminars, food and wine pairings, sustainability discussions, backyard farming exhibits, celebrity chef cooking demonstrations, adventure tours and farm-to-table meals.
- Sonoma Wine Country Weekend: This epicurean event brings together more than 200 world-class wineries and chefs showcasing their talents at winemaker lunches and dinners.
OctobeR
- California Avocado Festival: This festival in Santa Barbara County celebrates “peace, love and guacamole,” with avocado-centric food, music and activities.
November
- San Diego Beer Week: Hundreds of beer-centric events take place throughout San Diego County during this 10-day festival highlighting award-winning craft beer, breweries and pubs.
