Los Al Festival to Feature Actual Ton of Sugar Beets

If you’re going to hold festival based on sugar beets, you probably need to have a few on hand.

That’s why organizers of the brand new Los Alamitos Sugar Beet festival and Sugar Town Challenge will truck in 2,000 pounds of the vegetable for their July 13 event.

The tricky part is finding them, organizers say.

“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 Larry Strawther, local historian and event co-chair, in a release. “None of the local stores or wholesale produce companies carry them. They aren’t in the Yellow Pages.”

Strawther, who said he’d never seen a sugar beet in his life, 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 former Los Alamitos Sugar Company shifted its main operations back in the 1930s.

So on July 2, Strawther and some other volunteers will pick up a ton of the tuber just after its been harvested and haul them back to Los Al, where they’ll be stored at Frieda’s Produce, awaiting their use in the festival and in festival-related dishes.

“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-chair Diana Hill said there will be a couple other unique ways of using the beets, but she’s not releasing details.

Organizers are also trying to recruit local sports groups and local communities.

Strawther, said,  2013 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,” he said.

Strawther said he hopes to get members of the 1993 Los Alamitos High School football team to attend 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.

Strawther and Hill, along with volunteers Shelley Hasselbrink and Robyn Reimer, hope 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.

The first Sugar Beet festival begins with a 5k-ish race, an aimed at helping nonprofits make money and get people to the event. The 5k is open to walkers, too.

So far more than 30 non-profits have signed up to participate at the festival. There are already more than 50 vendor booth spaces.

For more information on the event, go to www.sugarbeetfestival.com or contact Larry Strawther at larrystrawther@gmail.com or (562) 522-6670or Diana Hill at dhill@dianadhill.com or (310) 720-7677.

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