Upland Lemon Festival Plants Seeds April 29 - May 1

POMONA, Calif. - March 23, 2016 - PRLog -- An entire swath of the Inland Empire will be aglow in yellow as the Upland Lemon Festival plants its seeds April 29 - May 1.  Carnival rides, games and prizes, an American Idol-inspired talent show, pie-eating contest, arts & crafts booths and live music by tribute bands that will bring to life the music of KISS, Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi are among the festivities.

Attendees may enjoy a wide variety of fun foods with lemon as a key ingredient including lemon garlic wings, lemon corn dogs, lemon cake and freshly squeezed lemonade. There is no admission cost.  The festival is being produced by The Learning Centers at Fairplex, the community-focused, nonprofit, philanthropic arm of Fairplex, home of the LA County Fair. A portion of the proceeds will benefit designated nonprofits in Upland.

Among the scheduled events:

Entertainment by local community groups at the Lemon Tree Stage throughout the day

Lemon pie-eating contests Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

Tribute bands at the Citrus Grove Stage

April 29 - Rock & Roll Over (KISS)

April 30 - Springsteen Experience (Bruce Springsteen)

May 1 - Wanted (Bon Jovi)

Lemon Idol Competition

Semi-finalists Friday and Saturday throughout the day

Finale on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Auditions for the Lemon Idol Competition will be held at Moultrie Academy of Music, Voice and Dance (405 W. Foothill Blvd, Suite 201, Claremont) on Thursday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 23 at 2 p.m. First-round auditions are open to all soloists ages 5+. Each contestant must sing with a CD background track (karaoke with no lead vocals) or they may accompany themselves. Semi-finalists will be notified on the Upland Lemon Festival website by noon April 25. Prizes will be awarded to the first-place finisher $500, second place $250 and third place $100.

Sponsors for this year's Upland Lemon Festival include ALDI, DirecTV, Deep Eddy Vodka, Metro Nissan of Montclair, Shock Top & Bud Light, Sleep Number®, SolarCity, Southern California Gas Company and Welk Resort.

Tickets for rides and games may be purchased in advance by visiting our website

Among the programs sponsored by The Learning Centers at Fairplex are the Child Development Center that offers early education to toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners; FairKids Field Trips that open the doors to 150,000 students each year to teach them everything from agriculture and history to math and sciences during the LA County Fair; and the Junior Fair Board Leadership Program that pairs 32 junior and senior high school scholarship students with local nonprofits to perform community service projects.  For more information about the UplandLemon Festival, visit https://uplandlemonfestival.com.

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SOME FUN FAST FACTS ABOUT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S LEMON HISTORY:

1769 While building the California missions, Father Junipero Serra also plants the first citrus seeds.

1840 Frontiersman William Wolfskill plants lemon and orange seedlings in what is now downtown Los Angeles and California's citrus business is born.

1877 The completion of the transcontinental railroad helps satisfy a national demand for lemons and other California-grown citrus.

1893 Needing an effective way to market their citrus, farmers form the Southern California Fruit Exchange, better known as Sunkist Growers.

1906 Farmers lobby for a research facility to help them grow a better crop. The Citrus Experiment Station becomes the foundation of the University of California, Riverside.

Today California's more than $1 billion annual citrus business ranks second in the U.S.

About Fairplex:

Fairplex is a private, nonprofit 501(c)5, self-funding organization that is not governed by the county or state, and receives no government subsidies for daily business operations. Under the direction of the Los Angeles County Fair Association, we exist to build stronger communities and, through our businesses and The Learning Centers, provide education, entertainment and fun to Southern California.