Marilyn Monroe Was Once Crowned 'Queen Of Californian Artichokes'

For as long as people have been harvesting food, they've been having harvest festivals. Although many of these festivals have reduced in size and significance over the centuries, many rural and semi-rural communities in the U.S. still celebrate completed harvests with local festivities and while many people may be familiar with local apple or pumpkin fests in autumn, or even larger events like the National Cherry Festival in Michigan each summer, one much smaller festival in California boasts one very famous former participant.

Artichokes, which the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction notes are cousins of the sunflower descended from North African thistles and native to the Mediterranean region, were first brought to the Louisiana territory by the French in the early 1800s. However, it was Italian immigrants who made the plant catch on when they brought them to the Monterey Peninsula of California in 1922, per artichokefestival.org. 

To this day, nearly all of the artichokes sold in the U.S. are grown around Castroville, California, which is why the town has claimed the title of "Artichoke Capital of the World" and created a festival to celebrate the region's predominant crop.