This festival near Sacramento is a slice of Americana, with a slice of pear pie
The Sacramento County town of Courtland has about 500 residents. Sunday, it’s expected to host about 5,000 visitors eager to celebrate its flagship crop.
Courtland will essentially shut down for the 49th annual Pear Fair, a charming Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta tradition revolving around the region’s Bartlett pear harvest. It’s a slice of Americana just 25 minutes from Capitol Mall, sponsored by names as big as Del Monte but run entirely by volunteers.
Courtland’s first commercial pear trees were planted around the 1850s, and came to define the town’s image and economy. Sacramento County pears grossed $45 million in 2021, making them the county’s third-most valuable agricultural commodity, and most of them are grown in and around Courtland.
The day kicks off at 7:30 a.m. with a 5-10K fun run through orchards and gives way to a pancake breakfast with pear mimosas, a pear packing competition and pear pie-eating contests. A pair of high school seniors will be crowned Pear King and Queen, live music will play all day and supplemental activities include craft stations, a Delta historical exhibit and a kids’ duck call contest.
All food and drink vendors are required to showcase the flagship fruit. That has resulted in pear sausages from highly-respected Lockeford Sausage, pear ice cream, pizzas topped with pear slices and tacos with pear slaw, Pear Fair co-organizer Sarah Hemly said.
The Hemly family has farmed in the Delta for six generations, and now reserves some pears, apples and cherries for Hemly Cider, founded and run in Courtland by Sarah Hemly. The Pear Fair, too, links grandparents, parents and children, she said.
“It’s generations full of memories that are taking place, and now the next generation is making sure this keeps going and everyone has a fun, safe time as we get to celebrate the community,” Hemly said.
Entry to the Pear Fair is free with $20 parking, and proceeds raise money for Delta High School scholarships and the Courtland Volunteer Fire Department. Visit https://pearfair.com/ for more information.
What I’m Eating
I added Paste Thai to my ever-expanding dining list after reading Kathi Riley Smith’s glowing recommendation in Sacramento Magazine earlier this year. The American River College culinary supervisor and former chef at San Francisco’s famous Zuni Cafe, Riley Smith has repeatedly made the drive from Sacramento to Davis for Paste’s fresh produce, scratch-made curries and balanced cooking since the restaurant opened last June.
You can taste those carefully-plucked ingredients in the ginger stir-fry ($17-$19 depending on your choice of protein), brightened by chef Kim Luanglath’s expert cooking. Enoki mushrooms, multiple types of bell peppers and onions and a garlic-ginger sauce provided the backdrop for the fried tofu, fluffy on the inside of its leathery jacket.
Thai chicken curry puffs ($16 for three) made for a fun appetizer; my Indian American dining companion compared them to slightly sweeter samosas. Flaky shells gave way to an earthy filling of diced chicken, carrots and potatoes, with a sweet cucumber-onion relish for contrast.
I could smell the coconut milk wafting off Paste Thai’s panang nuer ($19), a vibrant auburn curry infused with makrut lime leaves, the second it reached the table. The centerpiece chunks of beef were perfectly cooked, surprisingly tender and still pink on the inside.
Paste Thai
Address: 417 Mace Blvd., Suite I, Davis.
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:30-9 p.m., seven days a week.
Phone number: (530) 564-7051.
Website: https://order.toasttab.com/online/paste-thai-417-mace-blvd-ste-i
Drinks: Beer, wine, tea and sodas — try a bottle of the Beerlao dark for a pleasantly malty Laotian option.
Animal-free options: Many.
Noise level: Quiet to medium-quiet.
Openings & Closings
The Dolly Llama will open its first Northern California location on Saturday at 4810 Elk Grove Blvd., Suite 140 in Elk Grove. The Los Angeles-based dessert chain specializes in ice cream served atop waffles, in bubble cones or in milkshakes.
Divina Colombian Cafe just opened at 6201 Franklin Blvd. in south Sacramento. The family-owned cafe exclusively serves Colombian coffee with bites such as arepas, empanadas and cauliflower ceviche.
Hood Station Firehouse 92, a brick-walled New American restaurant in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta town of Hood, closed on Sunday. Rising costs of doing business torpedoed the concept, the restaurant said in its closing Facebook post.
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