Knott’s Berry Farms Boysenberry Festival, the granddaddy of theme park food festivals, is returning this year for a full three weeks. The park announced that the festival will run from March 16 to April 8 for 2018. The Boysenberry Festival is the annual celebration of the hybrid berry that was popularized by Walter Knott at Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s a great way to both celebrate the delicious berry and the history of one of the countries oldest theme parks.
Boysenberry pulled pork on a boysenberry roll, anyone? (photo courtesy Knott’s Berry Farm)
Along with announcing this years dates, the park also teased some of the new food and entertainment to expect this year. One of the new items that sounds particularly interesting to me is the boysenberry quesadilla, made with a berry infused flower tortilla, berry salsa, and boysenberry sour cream. One of the returning menu items that jumped out to me is the slow cooked short ribs, which are made with a boysenberry hoisin sauce. My favorite things at the festival last year were definitely the ones that made the most creative use of the berry ingredients.
One of the most popular returning items will no doubt be the boysenberry buffalo wings with the delcious boysenberry bbq sauce. (photo courtesy Knott’s Berry Farm)
Lots of boysenberry drinks (like beer) will also be on hand for folks. (photo courtesy Knott’s Berry Farm)
On the entertainment side, some of the performing groups will be returning from past years (like Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies), but maybe most interesting is the “Tied up in Knott’s!” art show. It’s a tribute featuring works that are being contributed by more than a dozen artists. Things from oil paintings to mixed media pieces will pay tribute to the history of the park. Between this and the “Old Time Melodrama”, Knott’s is trying to add some culture to the park experience, it seems.
By far my favorite entertainment at the festival last year was watching the pie eating contest. Definitely not very cultured, but hopefully that’s back this year. (photo courtesy Knott’s Berry Farm)
This is early compared to last seasons festival, but is similar to the dates for the 2016 version. Sadly that means the parks new coaster, HangTime, won’t be open yet, but the festival is always a great time (and we doubt KCL Engineering will have their lighting up on the HangTime structure yet, but it’d be pretty neat if it was lit for the festival). Full details on the Boysenberry Festival, and more on all the food, drink, and entertainment can be found on the festival site. Have you been to the festival before? Let us know what your favorite things were from it in the comments below!
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