The San Joaquin Asparagus Festival is in its 40th year, a tradition that stems from Stockton's deep-rooted asparagus history.
But CBS Sacramento was told all of this was at risk of not even happening this year after its CEO, Tony Noceti, and his wife, Rowena, were in a major car crash in November.
"I was in the hospital for 31 days, so it was pretty tough," Tony Noceti said. "My wife was in there 10 days and we've been a few months getting recuperated, so we're getting back up to speed. We're excited, the 40th anniversary here for the festival and the 77th anniversary for Stockton 99 Speedway that we operate also."
Thankfully, farmer Tony and Rowena are on the road to recovery after Tony said he had 30 broken bones.
"The Lord pushed the button and sent me back down here," Noceti said.
As the owner of a local racing speedway, Tony went into high gear to keep this festival afloat.
"It's the people's festival," Noceti said. "They quit a few years ago, back in about '14, '13, the city of Stockton. I took it over and kept the legacy going here in Stockton, California."
Stockton, the home of the asparagus, or at least it used to be. Tony partners with one of the last remaining asparagus farms in the area, Moon Dust Farms, owned by Klein Family Farms, just for this festival.
"Thank God that Klein still farms asparagus here and we're so excited to have locally-grown," Noceti said.
The festival will go through a couple of tons of asparagus that will be deep-fried by Mrs. Julie, known as the 'asparaboss' around, and 100 of her volunteers. She remembers being able to buy asparagus on the side of the road.
Decades ago, you could see asparagus growing for miles and miles with Filipino asparagus farmworkers pioneering strikes for better pay while working on one of the toughest crops, sparking a movement.
"Friends of my father, Filipino friends would bring them asparagus in the springtime and it was just such a delicacy because it originated right here in the San Joaquin Delta."
So, what happened to the asparagus farms?
"In the agriculture business, what happened there was the labor costs got too expensive and some of the farmers went down to Mexico," Noceti said.
Daniel Sumner is an expert in agricultural economics and the director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center. Sumner said asparagus farms were up around 30,000 acres and now one.
"It's a classic case of, we used to be relatively good at asparagus, we're still good at it, but the costs are high here relative to Mexico, and it's really that simple," Sumner said.
Sumner attests to what Noceti talked about, as he said that it was natural to move to where people can make a living off of lower wages.
"Nobody wants somebody out there working for 5 bucks an hour here in San Joaquin County, or wherever we are, so in that sense, it was natural for it to move where 5 bucks an hour is not a bad wage. People can make a living at it, so to speak. So that was natural, and it's happened with other things in the history of the United States."
So, why did Tony want to keep the festival going? Tony said they give back to a lot of non-profits, including St. Jude's.
"We give back to a lot of non-profit groups and help people out," Noceti said. "It's one of the biggest events around that we have here and it takes all year long to get ready for this thing."
A year of preparation, culminating in celebrating with deep-fried asparagus and creative takes on asparagus dishes like bacon-wrapped asparagus Rowena makes, asparagus waffles, and asparagus burritos. There's also an asparagus scholarship pageant, blacksmith demonstrations, and train and monster truck rides.
CBS Sacramento was told this was the largest crowd at the festival since it has been at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds. The event could've ended earlier due to weather, but the sun shone on the fair throughout Sunday as it was packed yet again for people to look for their fried asparagus cooked by the 'asparaboss' as the asparagus tradition continues into the next decade.
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