NEW YORK-
It's food festival season, and the May/June issue of Weekend magazine has a list of 15 eating events around the country from now until September.
The fairs honoring everything from blueberries up in Maine to artichokes in California are as follows:
–Cosby Ramp Festival, Cosby, Tenn., May 7, celebrating ramps, a local wild leek; .
–Castroville Artichoke Festival, Castroville, Calif., May 20-21, in the county where 80 percent of the world's artichokes are grown; .
–Mudbug Madness, Shreveport, La., May 25-28, dedicated to the consumption of crawfish; .
–Return of the Chili Queens Fiestas, San Antonio, Texas, May 26-28, honoring the chili con carne vendors of yore; (210) 227-9254.
–International Horseradish Festival, Collinsville, Ill., June 10-11, saluting the town where more than half the world's horseradish is grown; .
–National Cherry Festival, Traverse City, Mich., July 1-8, featuring cherry pies and pit-spitting contests; .
–International Mango Festival, Coral Gables, Fla., July 8-9, showcasing the world's largest mango display (with plenty of varieties to sample) at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden; .
–Gilroy Garlic Festival, Gilroy, Calif., July 28-30, all things garlicky in the town where 90 percent of U.S. garlic is processed; .
–Pierogi Fest, Whiting, Ind., July 28-30, celebrating dumplings and the town's Eastern European heritage; .
–Hope Watermelon Festival, Hope, Ark., Aug. 10-13, watermelon-eating, tossing, seed-spitting and other antics; .
–National Lentil Festival, Pullman, Wash., Aug. 18-19, a national lentil cook-off and the world's largest pot of lentil chili, 5-by-7-feet, .
–Machias Maine Wild Blueberry Festival, Machias, Maine, Aug. 18-20, celebrating Maine's tiny wild blueberries with all kinds of edible treats and even a blueberry-themed musical; .
–Barnesville Potato Days, Barnesville, Minn., Aug. 25-26, where you can eat, sculpt or wrestle in mashed potatoes; .
–National Hard Crab Derby, Crisfield, Md., Sept. 1-3, with a race for live crabs and a feast of those that met their demise in a cooking pot; .
–National Buffalo Wing Festival, Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 2-3, with chicken wings prepared in more than 100 styles, including the traditional spicy wings named for the host city; .
