28th Annual Pistachio Farm Festival rolls into Newberry Springs
The Newberry Springs 28th Annual Pistachio Farm Festival is expected to unleash a weekend of nutty goodness when it returns in November.
The Pistachio Farm Festival is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 7 and 8, at Newberry Park, 30884 Newberry Road in Newberry Springs.
Located just off Old Route 66 and east of Barstow, the festival will feature over 100 vendors, an art show, a kickball tournament, live music and more.
This year, the Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce is adding a farm exhibit, a wide selection of carnival games, and a costume contest based on the TV show "Green Acres" to its festival.
Event organizers said Newberry Springs is a small town along Route 66, but the community "goes big" when it comes to hosting community events, especially the popular pistachio festival.
The harvesting of pistachios usually occurs in mid-September when the skin, or hull, of the nut changes from a greenish to a yellowish-red color, according to agriculturalists.
Pistachios gain popularity in the U.S.
During the 1880s, imported pistachios were popular in the United States, especially with immigrants from the Middle East, according to American Pistachio Growers.
From that time, pistachios began drawing further attention as they were distributed through vending machines installed in underground train stations, bars, restaurants and other common locations.
California's Central Valley soon became home to pistachio growers due to its fertile soil, hot, dry climate and moderately cold winters.
Pistachios need 100-degree-plus temperatures to ripen, according to the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The American Pistachio Growers said that after American botanist William E. Whitehouse journeyed to Persia in 1929 to collect pistachios, he returned to the U.S. with a collection of approximately 20 pounds of individually selected nuts. After many years of Whitehouse experimenting with the nut, the concept of the American pistachio industry was becoming a reality.
Pistachio farming in Newberry Springs
Newberry Springs historically supported crops and livestock, including apricots, alfalfa, poultry and catfish.
However, pistachio farming expanded there in the early 1980s, during the broader growth of the U.S. industry after concerns arose about Iranian supplies to the U.S. following the 1979 fall of the Shah of Iran.
Soon after, the ever-expanding Big Al's Pistachio Farm became an important part of the local industry, providing grafting and processing services.
In the early 1980s, Al Van Bastelaar and his wife, Pauline, started the pistachio farm with a few trees in Newberry Springs, the Daily Press reported.
The inaugural Newberry Springs Pistachio Festival was held at Big Al's barn in 1997 before moving to the community park and becoming a regional attraction.
Despite the festival's success, pistachio growers face the struggles of water-use restrictions, with reduced irrigation lowering production and making older orchards more vulnerable to pests and disease.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: 28th Annual Pistachio Farm Festival rolls into Newberry Springs
