Upcoming Mountain Mandarin Festival a boon for local nonprofits

When it comes to giving back, the Mountain Mandarin Festival's legacy continues to grow. Now in it's 33rd year, the nonprofit event has raised $1.75 million that has gone out into the Placer County community in the form of student scholarships and donations, as well as through local nonprofits who funnel money they earn at the festival into their own neighborhood causes. "We do give back to the community," said longtime executive director Gary Gilligan. "We have different non-profits that help us at the festival for donations - the Boy Scouts operate a booth for donations; we have a neighborhood association that runs our gate, so they get a percentage of the gate take for their nonprofit, so there's lots of giving back to community." The giving includes an annual student scholarship program administered by the Newcastle Area Business Association, which founded the Mountain Mandarin Festival in 1993. Each year, five to six graduating seniors who live in Newcastle, Ophir or Penryn receive $1,000 each for their continuing education. Application forms are available at newcastleareabusiness.wordpress.com/scholarship-program. Other nonprofit organizations that team up with the Mountain Mandarin Festival include the Gold Country Fair Heritage Foundation, the Placer County Farm Bureau, Placer-Nevada Cattle Women, Soroptimist International, Newcastle Firefighters, Foothills K9 Association and Roseville Public Library. Nonprofit entertainment groups that bring the stages to life at the festival include the Sugar Plump Fairies of Auburn, the Thunderfoot Cloggers and West Coast Pageants, which conducts the annual Mountain Mandarin scholarship pageant, aka the Miss Juicy Mandarin pageant. Also benefitting from this year's festival, to be held Nov. 20-22 at the Grounds in Roseville, are eight Placer County mandarin growers who will be selling the fruits of their labor direct to some 30,000 visitors who come through the festival gates over the course of three days. "Over the years, our growers have sold about 1.9 million bags of fruit at the festival," Gilligan said. "I don't track what each grower sells so I can't give you a dollar figure but what I can tell you is that once people taste a mandarin that ripened on the tree in Placer County, they notice the difference. It's night and day from what they find in the grocery store." On Friday of the festival, the participating growers submit their three best pieces of fruit to a panel of judges that will choose "the best mandarin in Placer County" for 2026. The winner gets a trophy and bragging rights -- and, often, a swarm of customers who empty out their inventory. "Last year's winner was Traylor Ranch Mandarins and he sold out what he had in five minutes on Friday afternoon," said Gilligan. "He was like, 'Oh my gosh! I gotta go back and get more.' And he just kept bringing more and more up because people were waiting for it because it was voted best mandarin." Gilligan, a chef and former Newcastle restaurant owner, has been involved with the Mountain Mandarin Festival since it began. Through attrition, he took over as executive director 20 years ago and today earns a salary of $100 a month. "Everyone thinks we get rich doing this but really it's just about promoting the mandarin orange and the growers in Placer County," he said. "It just highlights the benefits of the fruit and people just enjoy it." FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES Gilligan said this year's festival boasts some 240 vendors, 75 percent of which feature area crafters and their handmade goods, "so we always say it's a great time to start your holiday shopping." Every food and drink vendor must offer at least one item made with mandarin oranges, which proved a little tricky for the hotdog seller until he came up with a mandarin relish, Gilligan noted. The task wasn't as easy for the corn dog vendor so he added an orange Julius drink to the menu. Other vendors serve up mandarin infused salads, grilled meats, ice creams, glazed nuts, fudge, marinades and syrups. New this year is Kids Zone America with 10 interactive stations featuring games and activities. The festival's popular petting zoo returns along with climbing walls and the bungee jump. There will be "strolling" entertainment, including a juggler, as well as musical entertainment that includes Irish duo the Gnarly Pint from Chico performing a two-hour show on Saturday and again on Sunday. A local teen rock band from Lincoln will kick things off Saturday morning with their first-ever performance at the festival, said Gilligan. Local dance groups will be performing on stages throughout the grounds and, on Friday, the Gold Country Drummers will be playing. But the star of the festival is the sweet little orange fruit that is only available a couple of months a year, and this season's harvest is expected to be earlier than usual, putting the Mountain Mandarin Festival in the middle of the season. "Instead of kicking off the mandarin season in Placer County, it's more going to be a middle of the season celebration of the fruit, which is a good thing because the fruit will be plentiful and it'll be sweet," Gilligan said. Local chef Deb Manley will conduct five cooking demos each day of the festival featuring the mandarin in everything from French toast to jambalaya, spinach salad and cheesecake. On Sunday, cash prizes will be awarded in a recipe contest that includes four categories: side dish, salads, dessert and adult beverage. The contest, a 25-year tradition, is open to anyone who'd like to enter. In the spirit of giving, the festival welcomes volunteers, who can sign up for a four-hour shift on the festival website, https://www.mandarinfestival.com/ under the volunteer tab. Jobs include vendor relations, which could involve giving a vendor a short break, parking assistance and set up or clean up. Overall, Gilligan said, he and festival organizers have worked hard to keep 'local flavor' at the forefront of the event. "You know, I still get the 'You should be in Auburn (where the event was for many years)," he said, "but I tell people mandarins are from Placer County and Roseville is part of Placer County." He also noted that the Grounds event center has been revitalized by Placer County Tourism and offers all the aesthetics one would expect for a fun festival. "We have trees, and we have lots of grass -- there's still nature -- and, of course, there's mandarins." For information and tickets, go to www.mandarinfestival.com.