Although the temperatures in Paso Robles were above 90 degrees on Saturday, it did not stop people from supporting local growers at the 4th annual Olive and Lavender festival.
“We’re going to be eating a lot of fruit and drinking a lot of water, but yeah, we were excited to get some sun,” said AJ Bishop-Andrews, a tourist from Seattle.
Event organizers say they used to host the festival in the summertime; however, because temperatures reached up to 118 degrees, they changed it to May to avoid the heat.
This year, the warm weather caught up to them once again.
Temperatures dropping to below average next week seem to be a reflection of the weather whiplash that growers say they saw all year long.
“Because of the weather situation, some of the olives ripened really, really early, and some did not ripen at all,” said Mari, owner of Oliveto Ranch.
Mari added that the weather this year forced her to do two harvests in the same season and also produced some greener olives, causing a more bitter flavor in her olive oil.
According to the Oliveto owner, this was a trend for a lot of growers in California.
Virgie Ponce, owner of Edna Valley Lavender, agrees that the weather has been inconsistent.
“We’ve had bouts of cold and rain, and then it dries out,” she said.
Ponce added that the mix of temperatures has been great for her lavender, and she has also seen multiple harvests this year.
Other growers, like Gina Hambly of Hambly Lavender Farm, say the extra heat has sped things up.
“It’s blooming early this year! It’s a few weeks ahead of time,” she said.
Hambly explained that despite the heat, a record-breaking turnout was expected at the festival on Saturday.
