Festival Fever, Both North and South

It’s the first weekend in October, which means it’s time for the 39th Annual California Avocado Festival in downtown Carpinteria. The three-day extravaganza is a bit like last weekend’s Goleta Lemon Festival, but much bigger, louder, longer (October 3-5) – and much, much greener, at least in color, and the celebration of the locally-important fruit included a giant vat of guacamole! More than 60 bands perform across three different stages all weekend long, with well-known groups including Doublewide Kings, Cornerstone, Jackson Gillies band, The Rincons, Sgt. Pepper, Area 51, The Upbeat, JT & the Zydeco Zippers, Spencer the Gardener, and even Ventura’s still-kicking country-rock band Caught Red Handed. It’s a never-ending spectrum spanning countless genres serving as a soundtrack for the 50 arts & crafts and commercial booths, 15 food vendors and over a dozen nonprofits on site. All proceeds of the festival go to the Carpinteria Education Foundation and the Future Farmers of America. Details at www.avofest.org.

Heading north, the Chumash Intertribal Powwow is celebrating 60 years as a gathering of Native American tribes from throughout North America, who come together in Santa Ynez to celebrate Indigenous heritage and culture in the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ largest cultural event of the year. The two-day gathering, October 4 & 5, features dancing, singing, drumming, arts, crafts and more, including a grand entry to begin each day, intertribal and exhibition dancing, contests for various age groups from young children to 70 years and older. Dance styles include traditional, straight, fancy, grass, jingle dress, buckskin, cloth and chicken. While the event is open to the general public at a nominal $5 cost, it’s very much geared toward the participants and the Native American community, even more so for a fourth year since the Powwow moved from Live Oak Camp to sacred tribal grounds at the corner of Meadowvale Road and Highway 246 in Santa Ynez. Info at (805) 688-7997 or www.chumash.gov/powwow.