Mandarin Festival moving to Roseville

The Mandarin Festival is leaving Auburn. Its team, led by longtime executive director Gary Gilligan, announced early Friday evening the annual festival will move from the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn to @the Grounds in Roseville. The 31st Mountain Mandarin Festival is scheduled from Nov. 22-24. "It is with mixed emotions that we announce the relocation of our beloved Mandarin Festival," the Mandarin Festival Team said in a statement. "After many fruitful years in Auburn, the festival will now take place @the Grounds, Roseville, CA. We want to assure everyone that we remain within the heart of Placer County, continuing our tradition of celebrating the rich culture and history of the Mandarin Orange." The festival began in Newcastle with four mandarin growers and 12 other vendors. It was last held in Newcastle in 2000, when the California Highway Patrol issued 500 tickets "for not getting cars off the highway," Gilligan told the Auburn Journal in 2020 while also announcing a change to add "Mountain" to the event's name in compliance with regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. "We were faced with shutting down or moving it." So the event moved to the Gold Country Fairgrounds, where it grew over the next two decades to welcome, in 2019, 225 vendors and 17 mandarin growers for a crowd of 25,000 over three days, according to Gilligan. The 2023 festival drew a total crowd of 20,000. A rainy forecast kept Saturday's crowd down, but there were big crowds Friday and Sunday, including a whopping 12,000 on the final day. The festival is known for its popular mandarin milk shakes and best-tasting mandarin contest, an honor coveted by area growers. There is also a mandarin recipe contest for entrée, side dish, salad and dessert, and last November's festival introduced a mandarin cocktail category. The extended rainy winter of 2023 resulted in a lighter mandarin crop, and attendees swooped in on the opening day of the festival to grab bags of the fruit. The festival team said the decision to move "was not made lightly." "We faced a significant $20,000 increase in rent, which would regrettably force us to cut our cherished scholarship program," the team's statement said. "Additionally, to sustain the festival, we would have had to raise vendor fees and end some longstanding relationships with community groups. These were tough choices, but necessary to ensure the festival's survival and prosperity." Gold Country Fairgrounds CEO Don Ales said in an interview with the Auburn Journal on Monday he was "disappointed" to lose the Mandarin Festival. "I don't like to see any event that's been in the community a long time leave. (Gilligan) made a business decision and I wish him nothing but success," Ales said, noting the rent increase would have been "about $14,000 or $16,000." "I don't feel we negotiated as much as we could have, but I feel comfortable with our decision," Ales said. "We gave it our best, and he's made a choice. He's been here 30-something years, so I wish he would have stayed." Now, the festival moves its many rows of arts, crafts, food and drink vendors, music and attendees down Interstate 80 to Roseville, where it will occupy four stages and welcome 250-plus vendors. "Don is running a business, but I'm also running my business and I have to do what I have to do to not cancel our scholarships and donations to community partners," Gilligan told the Journal on Tuesday morning. "As we prepare for this transition, our hearts are heavy with the thoughts of leaving Auburn," the statement said. "The city has been our home, our partner and our supporter for over 23 years. The economic impact of the festival, estimated at $750,000, has been a testament to the vibrant community spirit and the collaborative efforts of everyone involved. We are deeply saddened to close this chapter in Auburn, but we are hopeful and excited for the new opportunities that awaits us in Roseville. We invite you all to join us in this new adventure Nov. 22-24, 2024, to continue the legacy, and to help us write the next chapter of the Mandarin Festival's story." Gilligan said the Mandarin Festival will be held in the barns, grass areas and two older buildings at @the Grounds in Roseville. He described the facility as "impeccable." "It will be very similar to Gold Country except it's flat," Gilligan said. "It's a celebration of Placer County mandarins, and Roseville is still in Placer County. I talked to all the growers, and all are on board. The same growers and vendors will be there. We haven't had one vendor say they won't go. The support was incredible so I don't fear we're going to fail in Roseville. We've opened the doors to a whole new market."