The Bounty of Butte County

May is the month of festivals, with several coming up in Chico and the surrounding areas. What makes May such a great time to have a festival? It’s practically summertime, for a start. Everyone has the end of school and the beginning of a long summer on their minds, and after a long, wet winter like the one we’ve had, the warm weather is more than welcome. Sitting outside in the shade and enjoying the bounty of Butte County is more than pleasant; it’s what summer is all about. Mother’s Day is also in May, and it just so happens to be the same weekend as all of these festivals. What better way to treat your mother to something special than by getting her out of the house and spoiling her? These festivals will be a great way to do just that.

In Paradise, the Chocolate Fest is returning to Terry Ashe Park on May 13th for a day filled with sweet treats and live music on several stages. A chocolate candy land, complete with chocolate fountain and vendor booths staffed with honest-togoodness chocolatiers, offers delicacies, desserts, and confections to delight and tempt anyone of any age. A chocolate cuisine challenge beckons anyone who’d like to enter to submit a chocolatey dish of their own invention for judging on the day of the festival, but if you’d prefer to be judged on your eating rather than on your baking, there will be a sundae eating contest, a cookie stacking contest, and a chocolate pie eating contest for you to prove your mettle. Activities abound, especially for the little ones, and you can expect absolute silence in the backseat on the ride home after a day spent playing carnival games, sliding down the super slide, and, of course, eating chocolate.

And if that isn’t enough to entice you, consider this: since the Paradise Chocolate Fest began back in 2006, it’s contributed over $390,000 to youth programs and services on the Ridge. That’s nearly half a million dollars that’s created scholarships, purchased sports uniforms, paid for dance lessons, bought musical instruments, sent kids to summer camp, created reading programs, provided vision screenings, built food banks, and enriched many more lives in countless other ways. Any and all revenue from this event and its offshoots— the Chocolate Thunder Motorcycle Run, the Chocolate Chase 5k, and the Chocolate, Wine, Brew, and Spirits event—ultimately goes to the youth on the Ridge, which means that you can feel good knowing every dollar you spend on sweets really matters.

May 13th also sees the return of the California Nut Festival out at the historic Patrick Ranch. This event is an agriculturefocused bonanza where nuts take center stage and entertainment includes cooking demonstrations, live musical entertainment, wine and beer sampling, and an art show, all outside on the lawn at the beautiful Patrick Ranch property. Large agricultural implements, both antique and modern, will dot the grounds, encouraging questions about our agricultural heritage and how the land is farmed. As many as 50 vendors will set up booths around the perimeter of the house, and one can spend the entire day talking to local restaurateurs, caterers, business owners, farmers, and chefs about produce grown right here in our own backyard. It’s educational, fun, and—perhaps most importantly—filling. Each admission ticket guarantees the entrant six drink tickets, six food tickets, and a commemorative glass, as well as samplings of a wide variety of nut-inspired dishes, wines, brews, juices, and much more.

This event is also a good way to support the

Patrick Ranch Museum, which preserves and interprets over a century of the Sacramento Valley’s agricultural history for visitors from far and wide. To date, over $200,000 has been raised by the Festival alone in support of the museum, and that will help keep Butte County, and California agriculture, thriving into the next generation.

And finally, the last event in our overview of festival season in Butte County is the festival formerly known as Art at the Matador. Rebranded as the Chico ART Festival, this event, which is hosted by the Chico Visual Arts Alliance, or ChiVAA, will take place on Friday, May 12th and Saturday, May 13th at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Chico, where sweeping grounds provide an ideal backdrop against which beautiful art pieces can shine. The festival will showcase the many and varied talents of our beloved local artists, including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and more. Food trucks, a margarita bar, demonstrations, live music, and activities for children will round out the event, making it a perfect way to celebrate Mother’s Day.

By their own admission, the art expo has four goals: to showcase local artists, to promote Chico as an arts destination, to educate the public about the value and variety of art in our community, and to throw a really great Chico-style party. A vibrant, thriving arts community makes Chico a better place to live, and that is a sentiment that we can definitely get behind. What would Chico be without its murals, its music, its public art installations, and its treasure trove of artists? What indeed.

Support local youth, agriculture, and the arts this Mother’s Day by attending one of the festivals that individuals and organizations spend all year putting together. Tickets can be purchased for the Paradise Chocolate Fest’s many events online at https:// chocolatefest.us/events/event-tickets/. Admission to the Fest itself is $5 per person, and free for children under four. General admission tickets to the California Nut Festival are $35 in advance or $40 on the day of the event. Purchase ahead at https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/california-nut-festivaltickets-559975791667.

Admission to the Chico ART Festival is free.