Model for Iconic ‘Artichoke Woman’ Poster Will Be in Attendance, Sign Posters, at 2018 Castroville Artichoke Food & Wine Festival June 2-3, in Monterey Joanne Gallaher, model for the iconic “Artichoke Woman” poster for the 1988 Castroville Artichoke Festival, will attend and sign posters at the 2018 Castroville Artichoke Food & Wine Festival Castroville, CA, May 24, 2018 — Joanne Gallaher, model for the iconic “Artichoke Woman” poster for
the 1988 Castroville Artichoke Festival, will attend and sign posters at the 2018 Castroville Artichoke Food & Wine Festival, set for June 2-3, 2018, at the Monterey County Fair & Event Center in Monterey. The image was inspired by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz’s 1979 photo of Bette Midler for Rolling Stone magazine to promote her film “The Rose,” as well as Marilyn Monroe’s 1948 status as Castroville’s first-ever honorary Artichoke Queen and later Monroe’s first Playboy centerfold image in 1953. In 1986, photographer Sue Bennett and long-time friend Gallaher collaborated on the image, which shows Gallaher, much like Midler and in a similar pose, lying on a “bed” of artichokes. Bennett and Gallaher combined their mutual love for artichokes into both an homage and a creative project. The image first appeared on a postcard in 1987 and sold at the Giant Artichoke restaurant and store in Castroville and in 1988 became the image for that year’s Artichoke Festival official poster. Bennett was close friends with both Gallaher and her husband Bill Mueller, first meeting in 1977. An architect, Mueller designed Bennett’s studio space in Flagstaff’s Babbitt building in the early 1990s. After Mueller passed away in 1999, Bennett spoke at his memorial and regaled the gatherers with amusing stories involving the three of them. Festival attendees will enjoy dozens of fresh artichoke food delicacies, a beer, wine and spirits garden, chef demos, live entertainment, field tours and more during the two-day festival. General admission is $15 for those 13 and older; seniors 62 and older and military personnel with ID are $10; children ages 6-12 are $5; general admission for one adult, with wine tasting pass, is $45 (must be 21 years or older); wine tasting alone is $30; and field tours are $10 (daily tour schedules to be announced at the Festival), good for adult or child 5-12. Online purchases are available through 9 a.m. June 3, 2018. No refunds.