Sweet potatoes shine again at Livingston festival

Merced County celebrated one of its signature crops with the Livingston Sweet Potato Festival over three days ending Sunday.

The sixth annual event at the Max Foster Sports Complex featured the vegetable in creative forms, such as funnel cakes, and information on how farmers produce the highly nutritious food.

Festival-goers also enjoyed carnival games and rides, live music, pro wrestling, bull riding, camels, a recipe contest, a farmers market and more.

The city of Livingston put on the festival with several partners in business and other fields.

The sandy soil around Livingston and Atwater makes Merced County the state’s top producer of sweet potatoes by far. Stanislaus County also grows some of the crop, but most of the nation’s production is in the Southeast.

This story was originally published September 24, 2017 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Sweet potatoes shine again at Livingston festival."