The Mountain Mandarin Festival comes to Roseville. How will weather affect the event?

Placer County’s 31st annual Mountain Mandarin Festival will be the first in Roseville, a location chosen to accommodate the increase in visitors. Will a “bomb cyclone” slow it down?

Northern California is expected to be deluged with an atmospheric river Wednesday through Saturday, possibly throwing a damper over the rain-or-shine festival At The Grounds in Roseville. The National Weather Service is projecting the storm will drop 3-4 inches of rain in the Sacramento area and could slam cold air into warm air offshore, creating a wind phenomenon known as a bomb cyclone.

That’s not ideal for the three-day Mountain Mandarin Festival, which kicks off Friday afternoon. But if the rain subsides by Saturday morning as expected, there still should be some dry time, festival executive director Gary Gilligan said.

Throwing an annual festival in November means contending with wet, cold weather, and it’s not the first Mountain Mandarin Festival to be rained on, Gilligan said. Some activities and vendors will be outside, but others will be held between three buildings and a covered barn.

“Over the years, the one thing I’ve learned is I can’t control Mother Nature,” Gilligan said. “We’re always concerned about the weather, but we always have to deal with the weather.”

The Mountain Mandarin Festival began in Newcastle and has drawn about 30,000 people in years past at Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn. While most are locals, visitors also come from the Bay Area and Reno, Gilligan said.

There are a dozen mandarin growers and another 300 commercial vendors, 60% of which sell handmade crafts. All 17 food vendors must sell at least one item made with mandarins, which leads to inventive creations.

A partial list includes: mandarin hot chocolate, mandarin-infused pretzels, mandarin chicken salad, hot dogs with mandarin relish, pulled pork sandwiches in a mandarin barbecue sauce, mandarin shave ice and mandarin cotton candy. There are mandarin milkshakes, mandarin mimosas and mandarin cocktails mixed with vodka and coconut rum and cranberry juice.

Live cooking demonstrations show guests how the sweet-and-sour fruit can add new flavors to, say, jambalaya. Each of the 12 growers will have samples as well, and customers can ship bags of mandarins to friends and family across the country for Thanksgiving via a U.S. Post Office booth at the festival.

“It’s a family-friendly festival,” Gilligan said. “It’s a great time to start your holiday shopping and come out and support local businesses and the local farmers.”

Placer County farmers harvested more than 1,000 tons of mandarins in 2022 and sold them for more than $3 million dollars, far more than any other fruit according to the county’s annual crop report. They need warm summer days to sweeten and cold fall nights to change the color of their skin, Gilligan said.

Yet an extended rainy season in 2023 dropped the yield to just 643 tons and less than $2 million. With only about 25% of the 2024 fruit harvested so far, growers will hope this weekend’s storm isn’t a harbinger of more to come.

What I’m Eating

Garden Highway is one of my favorite stretches of Sacramento to see the leaves turn each fall, their orange, yellow and red hues forming a picture-worthy backdrop to the Sacramento River. A stretch of riverside restaurants (Chevy’s Fresh Mex, Crawdad’s on the River, Roosters Breakfast & Mimosas) all offer similarly spectacular views, but none predate The Virgin Sturgeon Restaurant & Marina — or have the same degree of charm, in my opinion.

First opened in 1976, The Virgin Sturgeon floats on a barge and can only be accessed via a converted Pan-Am jetway, each of which rises or steepens depending on water levels. Bobby and Renee Riggs have owned the locals’ joint since 2007, aided by servers who have waited on the snug yet lively wooden dining room for more than two decades.

True to its name, The Virgin Sturgeon is one of the few area restaurants to serve Sacramento County’s flagship fish. A smoked sturgeon ($20) appetizer or combination platter ($22) with shrimp, Cajun chicken strips and smoked salmon are the cheapest ways to try the meaty prehistoric fish, though it’s also available as a market price entree.

The famous crab sandwich ($21 with soup du jour, salad or Cuban black beans) took my mind to Maryland or Florida seafood shacks, even if those locales would serve a different genus. It’s a mess of succulent snow crab mixed with Old Bay, cream cheese, lemon and a secret sauce slid with tomatoes between two grilled slices of butter-lathered sourdough.

Carol’s catfish ($23 with the same sides, also available with eggs during weekend brunch), named for Renee’s mother, was coated in a zippy Cajun rub before being grilled, served over rice pilaf and topped by a mango salsa with a sneaky kick. For a non-seafood option, the spinach and strawberry salad ($18) with grilled chicken, candied walnuts and a mellow balsamic dressing make lighter eating enjoyable.

The Virgin Sturgeon Restaurant & Marina

Address: 1577 Garden Highway, Sacramento

Hours: 9 a.m.-midnight Sunday, 3-10 p.m. Monday, 11:30 a.m.-midnight Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-midnight Saturday

Phone: 916-921-2694

Website: virginsturgeon.net

Drinks: Full bar with warm cocktails for chilly winter days and nights

Vegetarian options: A zesty bean dip, spinach pasta salad and mushroom veggie burger are among the few choices

Noise level: Loud

Outdoor seating: Patio overlooking the Sacramento River

Openings & Closings

• Omakase Por Favor debuted in midtown Sacramento location on Nov. 14 at 1050 20th St., Suite 150 in the MARRS Building. Jeana Marie Pecha first opened her Japanese-Mexican raw bar in Lincoln almost exactly one year ago; now she’ll trust former Seasons Kitchen + Bar chef Katerina Balagian to oversee the midtown operation.

• Sana’a Cafe will begin its soft opening Friday at 901 K St. in downtown Sacramento, filling a corner space that’s been vacant since Estelle Bakery & Pâtisserie closed there in 2016. The Yemeni coffee shop serves eye-catching pastries and has five preexisting stores, three of them in the Bay Area.

• 3rd & U Cafe closed Nov. 15 after 17 years at the 3rd Street/University Avenue intersection in downtown Davis, citing a family member’s health issues in an Instagram post. The UC Davis student hangout was known for hefty breakfast burritos and affordable pitchers or pints of beer.