Sylmar Olive Festival

A certain small fruit gets the spotlight at a three-day bash.

JUICY TIMES: If you've been to a number of food-based events in your life, with vendors who purvey in food-related products, you know what we mean when say that the olive is nearly limitless in its sheer usability and inventiveness. We've stopped being shocked at seeing new ways the orb-like fruit can be used. It used to be that you'd simply buy a jar of pimento-stuffed olives -- a classic we're in no way knocking, of course -- and call it a day. Now, when you hit the booths at a gourmet festival? The fancy olive oils, full of garlic and rosemary and odd herbs, are just the beginning. There are olive soaps and olive-based cosmetics and cookies made with olive oil (delicious, by the way). So when a town known for growing an olive or two wants to throw a full-on, three-day festival around the fruit, it feels right, given the olive's many uses and forms. Oh, and hello, Sylmar; it looks like that's exactly what you'll be doing from Saturday, Sept. 1 through Sunday, Sept. 3 at the aptly named Sylmar Olive Festival.

FOOD AND MORE: There will be vendors selling all things olive, but there will be more haps; one can't just stand around popping small, shiny orbs in their mouth all day long (wait, well; we could). Live music and non-olive food vendors and tamale- and pizza-eating contests and kids' to-dos round out the three-day party. Sylmar is also launching its first-ever chalk festival during the fest, too. So, olive lovers, are you in? Can you use a little of the juicy loveliness? Can you stop at a dozen? Two dozen? Yeah, we have olive-based pacing issues, too.

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