Ocean Mist Farms Kicks Off Heirloom Artichoke Season

March marks the beginning of peak Heirloom artichoke season and Ocean Mist Farms is supporting sales with multiple activities designed to generate sales and consumer awareness for this special variety of fresh artichokes. The Heirloom artichoke variety is a perennial plant that grows from original rootstock that dates back to the start of Ocean Mist Farms in 1924. The formal classification of an Heirloom fresh fruit or vegetable is any distinct variety that grows and has been in trade for more than 50 years using the same lineage. Artichokes have such a strong legacy in California that they were named the Official State Vegetable of California, say company officials. Peak volume of the Castroville Heirloom crop is expected in April, says Diana McClean, director of marketing. All the Heirloom artichokes will carry a red PLU/UPC sticker to help shoppers find the Ocean Mist Farms’ Heirloom variety in stores. “During spring’s Heirloom artichoke season, we activate a multi-faceted promotional strategy that includes retail contests, radio ads in Northern California, a consumer sweepstakes, custom in-store point of sale, display bins and petal inserts,” McClean says. “Artichokes can be made in countless ways, but many people use the same cooking method and dip the petals in their favorite sauce.” The consumer sweepstakes will run in April and the theme is Easy as 1-2-3. The players, who must be members of the Ocean Mist Farms’ Artichoke Club, can enter each day by selecting their favorite base, mixer and herb to create a unique artichoke dip. Daily prizes will be awarded and unique dip names will be generated to share across social media platforms.   The sweepstakes dipping game details will be communicated via social media channels and petal inserts which will be placed in every other artichoke for stores that agree to carry the item and labels will be added to the clamshell packages, a new packaging option for the spring season. Daily winners will be entered in chance to win a grand prize of $1,000. “We want to use the Easy as 1-2-3 theme to demystify the artichoke eating experience and add a fun engaging element to the process,” says McClean.  “We like that it gets people thinking creatively about cooking with artichokes.”   The culmination of peak season will be the Annual Castroville Artichoke Festival held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds May 30-31. The festival features Arti the Artichoke, Agro Art, chef demos, artichoke field tours, wine tasting and assorted activities for artichoke lovers of all ages.