Link: Recordnet.com: Asparagus Festival nets nearly half-million for charity.
More than 100 local charities benefited from the Asparagus Festival's record-breaking net revenue of $461,912. Checks were handed out at the Spear-It Celebration on Wednesday evening at Sheraton Stockton Hotel at Regent Pointe. This was the first year festival organizers shifted from promoting the festival as an entertainment event to promoting it as the largest fundraiser for San Joaquin County. "The fact that we advertised it as charity really made a difference," said Kate Post, festival executive director. The figure brought the festival's total donations to $4.5 million since it first began in 1986. Last year, the festival donated $437,108 to local nonprofits. Attendance at the 2008 festival, held April 25-27, exceeded 110,000, a substantial increase from last year's attendance of 95,000, organizers said. Festivalgoers came to see attractions such as professional pole vaulting, rocker Joan Jett and the World Deep-Fried Asparagus-Eating Championship, which was dominated by Joey Chestnut.
