Exclusive: A farm-to-fork theme mulled for California State Fair in 2014

A fresh, local food theme, such as “From Our Land to Your Table,” is being considered for the California State Fair on July 11-27, 2014, we’ve learned.

No final decision has been made, but it reflects the boom in the fresh, local food movement that is spreading throughout Northern California.

We’d certainly applaud that theme. Our magazine Sierra FoodWineArt and its companion website, SierraCulture.com, is dedicated to food, wine & beer, art & music and travel for Tahoe, Truckee, Grass Valley & Nevada City, Auburn, and Placer and Nevada County CA.

We’ll be launching a new mobile app for the region’s “food, wine & beer and music & art” connoisseurs and travelers before the holidays, complete with geo mapping, original articles, directories, videos, webcams, social media sharing and more.

The California State Fair, Northern California’s premier summertime attraction, typically draws over 700,000 attendees each year. The Fair has a wide range of attractions and activities for everyone including traditional competitive exhibits, agriculture, home art and technological competitions, thrill rides, big name entertainment and specialty foods.

In September staff from the California State Fair visited Full Belly Farm, in Guinda, as its Facebook page noted. “Thank you Full Belly Farm for an amazing tour. Loved seeing your harvest of some of California’s finest!”

Past Fair themes have included “Food Family Fun,” “Fun that moves you” and “The fun just got bigger.”

This week is the 20th anniversary of the Mountain Mandarin Festival in Placer County. Sacramento is building a reputation as a “farm-to-fork” capital. The debut farm-to-fork festival drew 25,000 people to Capitol Mall to showcase local food and farming.

PlacerGROWN and Nevada County Grown are booming, along with farmers markets, CSAs, farm-to-table dinners, TV shows dedicated to California’s Table and more. A PlacerGROWN Week this year was a success. All told, this is becoming a year-round passion.

Fresh, local food themes have become more common at Northern California fairs and festivals in recent years, including the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, which draws many thousands of visitors in January.

Our “Farmers are your neighbors” is here:

“Our Farmers are Your Neighbors” from Placer County Video Portal on Vimeo.

Sacramento’s Farm-to-Fork Week kicked off with a cattle drive across Tower Bridge to Capitol Mall: