FOOD FESTIVAL
Lake County Campus of Woodland College hosts first Street Food Festival
CLEARLAKE >> Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College hosted its first Street Food Festival on Friday in Clearlake where community members had the opportunity to learn about the more than 50 degree and certificate programs available at the college and the supportive services offered to students and the general public while enjoying an afternoon of fun.
“The chefs wanted to have a big festival and we wanted to have an open house at the same time, so we put them together. This is the result: a lot of people and an absolutely great experience. It’s exciting to see student engagement — one of our goals as we re-open the doors to bring people back, so they understand the Lake County Campus is here to provide educational opportunities for our spring 2022 schedule and class offerings that begin in January 24,” said Adult Education Specialist Mary Wilson.
“Our goal is to bring student life back, retaining our students and getting new ones to our colleges. We’re going to continue to provide these types of opportunities, with festivals, health fairs and career fairs,: added Cirilo Cortez, the college’s dean of students.
The purpose of combining the two events was to offer locals an outdoors experience with food and entertainment now that COVID vaccinations keep moving forward, with more than 57 percent of Lake County population having received at least one shot.
“We also wanted to inform them of resources on how we support students,” Wilson said.
In conjunction with the open house, the culinary department and the students from the Culinary Club held the street food celebration. There were also local vendors, family-friendly activities, face painting, hula dancing from Kehaulani Hula Studio, Pomo dancers and live music.
Chef Instructor of Culinary Arts Robert Cabreros
of Aromas Cafe had a special menu for the day that included Spam Musubi & Korean Fried Chicken Wing, Ahi Poki, Mini-Hawaiian Plate Lunch, Cali No-Roll Sushi and Malasadas with Kona Cafè Crème Brûlée as dessert. He said the outcome of the festival “was fantastic. It was bigger and better than I thought. That’s our big fall event. Because of COVID, we haven’t done many events like this, but prior to that, we had a lot of community engagements. We look forward to bringing those back.”
Cabreros estimated there were 500 visitors.
“I’ve been here 15 years and this was certainly one of the busiest restaurant experiences I’ve ever seen.
It’s extremely successful. My students had fun. We got the experience of running a big restaurant. Our students come here for that intense experience. It’s that intensity that drives us and that’s what we feed off — the adrenaline,” he added.
The next activity promoted by the Culinary Department is the Culinary Round-Up, on Dec. 8, from 2-6 p.m. at Aromas Café (15880 Dam Road Extension, in Clearlake). This is an open-house college enrollment community event, with an in-person tour of the teaching lab kitchen and information on how a certificate or degree in Culinary Arts can lead to job opportunities throughout Lake County. Phone (707) 995-4175 or send an e-mail to AromasCafe@yccd.edu. to reserve a spot.