Sugar Beet Festival to Sprout in Los Al in July

It started out as a sweet dream, but now it’s come true: Los Alamitos will host an inaugural Sugar Beet Festival, a celebration of local history, down-home charm and the people and groups that make the city an unbeatable place to live.

The Sugar Beet Festival will be held July 13, organizers announced Monday. The brainchild of local historian Larry Strawther and local businesswoman and school board member Diana Hill, the festival aims to raise money for local nonprofits, celebrate local history and highlight nearby businesses, restaurants and community groups.

Organizers hope about 10,000 people will attend from nearby communities like Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and Rossmoor and from farther-away communities like Huntington Beach, Long Beach and Anaheim.

"We want to make sure this is an event that’s not just for Los Alamitos," Strawther said. "Sugar beets were grown all over Orange County and Long Beach. Basically everywhere between the 5 and 405 and the 710 Freeways."

According to Strawther, who wrote a book detailing the history of Los Alamitos and Rossmoor, Los Al was a factory town with acres of sugar beets and a large beet factory complex begun in 1896. Beets were used to make refined sugar, and back then, like now, there was big money in it.

“From 1900 to 1950, this (Orange County) was the sugar beet capital of the United States,” Strawther said. “The revenue and the acreage was five times that of oranges … for that same time period.”

There were five sugar beet factories in the county, and the Los Alamitos location was a group of buildings stretching from the current site of Ganahl lumber to Los Alamitos high school.

Organizers plan to model the festival on the Gilroy Garlic Festival and the Garden Grove and the Oxnard Strawberry Festivals, and, more locally, the Taste of Los Alamitos.

The event, located near Pine and Florista, will feature a number of activities, including

● Food from local restaurants and beverages

● Historical exhibits

● Live entertainment

● Themed mini-­expos for local health, education, sports, business and military organizations.

● Competitions in which local non­profits can win money.

● A “5k-­ish” obstacle run through the streets and alleys of Old Town, Los Alamitos. The course will include ropes, ramps, ladders, tires, walls and Walking Dead wanna­be’s. 

To see flyers aimed at potential sponsors, vendors and non-profits, click the PDFs under the image on the right. 

Organizers say they're hoping for 2,000 participants in the obstacle course.

What about those who may think sugar beets are an odd as a subject for a local festival?

“Well, so is garlic,” said Strawther, who added that the Gilroy Garlic Festival draws hundreds of thousands of people.

For Strawther, the event has multiple goals, but the main one is supporting local charities. Half the ticket sales will go to the involved nonprofits, according to Strawther.

“If you do something that helps everybody, it’s a lot better for all,” Strawther. “You can’t go wrong when you get the community together.”

Leading up to the event, Community and Schools Media Partnership, which is putting on the event, will highlight people, businesses and organizations involved in the process at its YouTube site https://www.youtube.com/csmptv under the heading “A Great Place to Live (In Spite of Itself).”

For more information or to get involved email Strawther at larrystrawther@gmail.com or visit www.sugarbeetfestival.com.

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