The San Joaquin Asparagus Festival is an annual event that takes place in Stockton, California, and involves celebrating asparagus as local food. Across the world, destinations of tourism are promoting and developing food events as a way of attracting tourists. Lewis asserts that this is because food festivals are utilized to bolster the local economy (76). Tourism contribution associated with food festivals to the growth of local regions is essential since tourism creates needed job opportunities and leads to economic development. Lewis states that for “over its twelve years, the festival has raised nearly 1.75 million dollars for area non-profit groups, as well as obviously high, but unreported, levels of profit for promoters…” (74). Events such as the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival are a vital motivation for the traveling of tourists. People from around the region travel to Stockton to join the locals in the celebration of the food that is currently regarded as belonging to individuals in the high-class category.
Lewis’ views concerning local events are that they invent new cultural views. This argument seems to be true because local festivals provide a sanctuary where different people can interact and learn about each other’s cultural perspectives. Additionally, the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival is a function where visitors can break the rules concerning how they behave in normal society. According to Lewis, “these events offer opportunities for everyday folk to experience unorthodox (sometimes even socially taboo) indulgences in an “out-of-realtime” setting” (75). As such, individuals are free to invent new cultural behaviors without fear of being judged harshly. The reason is that the festival creates an environment that allows people to experiment and try new things. Since it is an annual celebration, there are some behaviors that would be associated with the event that would be replicated throughout its life span.
For several years, the asparagus festival has created employment opportunities. The San Joaquin Asparagus Festival website shows that there exists a midway of fun carnival where visitors can engage in different exciting activities. The midway of fun carnival is among the several activities that take place during the event. These generate hundreds of jobs for locals and visitors who want to sell their products. The site further has a feature that updates the followers of the event. The attribute is necessary because it ensures that everyone is informed about the event. Currently, the world is combating a pandemic, and informing followers of the celebration that the event cannot happen is necessary to avoid losing visitors.
In recent years, one of the major invented festivals that has been celebrated in the United States is the Boston seafood event. The festival has several similarities with the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival. Both events celebrate foods that the American people enjoy and regularly eat. Secondly, asparagus and seafood are considered high class. In addition, both events provide opportunities that everyone can utilize to have fun and carry out activities that are considered abnormal in everyday life. These events last for days and are primarily utilized to promote the local economy of the respective states. The celebrations are a major tourist attraction for the states because usually thousands of people attend them. These visitors rent hotels, buy food and indulge in other various activities that generate income for the local government.
Works Cited
Lewis, George H. “Celebrating Asparagus: Community and the Rationally Constructed Food Festival” Journal of American Culture, vol. 20, no. 4, 1997, pp. 73-78.
San Joaquin Asparagus Festival. Noceti Group, Inc. Web.