Fallbrook's creamiest spring fling is all about the avocado

FRUIT CRAVINGS RULE OUR APRIL APPETITES, there's no doubt about it, with all sorts of berries and citruses tempting our fruit-loving fancies. But there's a star of the fruit pantheon that we must pause to pay chip-dipping, bread-spreading homage to, a fruit that sometimes goes by a variety of offbeat nicknames, including the alligator pear. It's the avocado, that Golden State superstar, a billing that sounds outsized but perhaps doesn't go nearly far enough. For this bumpily surfaced, pit-rocking icon has more than one California-based festival in its honor, including a party that rolls into Fallbrook each spring. It's the Fallbrook Avocado Festival, a homespun happening that's back April 13.

THE GUACAMOLE CONTEST... is one savory centerpiece, so consider entering your best bowl if you really feel like you have the right combo of tomato to onion to lemon to avocado (or whatever ingredients you include). There's a chance for elementary schoolkids to costume an avocado — that's right, the contest is about dressing up an avocado like you might clothe a doll — and the adorable "Avocado 500 Race," which will, yes, give tots the chance to make real avocados go fast (wheels will be provided). And the opportunity for both kids and grown-ups to cosplay as an avocado, or at least rock fashion that boasts avo inspo, is also part of the festival. For the full 'cado rundown, guac as quickly as possible by this site now.