Merced County event combines fun, families and farming
Isabela Valadez plucked blueberries over the weekend until her hands were full and her fingertips stained with fresh juice.
The 8-year-old Ballico girl had one important question for her mother Saturday morning.
“Can we make waffles now that we have blueberries?”
She and her older brother, Leonardo, 11, were two of the hundreds of kids who packed themselves into the orchards and fields of Riverdance Farms over the weekend during the 11th annual Pick and Gather and Merced River Fair.
The traditional two-day festival in Livingston celebrates the Merced River, farming, music and art. The event offers kayaking, fly fishing, cultural dancing, camping and, of course, fruit picking.
Farm owner Cindy Lashbrook said festivities are known to be as educational as they are fun.
“It’s important for people to know where food comes from,” she said. “It comes from plants and trees and bushes. This is an organic farm and almost everything (at the festival) is local.”
As many as 2,000 visitors have attended the event in Livingston.
“We highlight local and seasonal foods on the family-farm scale,” Lashbrook said.
This year’s festival also focused on water education and included information on growing healthy plants while conserving water.
The event also featured storytelling, arts and crafts, and live music.
While most young people focused on fishing, fruit picking or camping, Simon Anuszczyk and some friends played jazz traditionals on a small stage at the edge of the blueberry field.
The four-person band featured Anuszczyk on banjo, brother Gabriel on bass, Parker Weis on the clarinet and Joanna Koford on vocals.
And while the band played on, Isabela’s mother, Julia Valadez, helped her children finish picking blueberries and considered her daughter’s waffles wish.
“It’s our first time coming here,” she said. “It’s very nice. The kids are having fun.”
Rob Parsons: 209-385-2482
This story was originally published May 31, 2015 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Merced County event combines fun, families and farming."