Harvest: This is how summer begins
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Harvest: This is how summer begins

Every year on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, the streets of Healdsburg fill with music and marching bands, vintage tractors and streamers, and the laughter of the Twilight Parade. The sidewalks brim over with families in folding chairs and children waving flags, and all across town, porches and patios transform into party stops.

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‘This is how we live here…’ Liza’s market journey
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‘This is how we live here…’ Liza’s market journey

Late April and early May in Healdsburg is a time of delicious contradiction. We’re caught between spring’s softness and summer’s heat—the day grows longer, the air shifts into something slightly more perceptible, more viscous, noticeable on the skin and lips. Our hills are flush with leprechaun green, lingering for one last glimpse before summer’s tan sets in.

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Where the Sidewalk Ends, the Farmers’ Market Begins
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Where the Sidewalk Ends, the Farmers’ Market Begins

There’s a magic hour on Saturday mornings when the sun hasn’t quite burned through the morning mist and the scent of basil floats on the breeze. It’s in that moment—coffee in one hand, tote bag in the other—that Healdsburg wakes up. Not with alarm clocks or deadlines, but with laughter, tomatoes still warm from the sun and the soft hum of a town gathering to celebrate the local farms’ abundance.

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Additional work by Liza Gershman

GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARD

AMAZON BEST-SELLER

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC “BEST BOOK TO READ NOW”

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE “TOP TEN BEST BOOKS”

BUY COUNTY FAIR ON AMAZON

  • The all-American state and county fair tradition is not all carnies, corn dogs, cotton candy, and apple pie. The fair is a place for communities to come together and share some of the most meaningful moments in life that can evoke affection and nostalgia. Liza Gershman's book is a visual feast―it's jam-packed with the images, stories, and voices of the folk and tight-knit communities who celebrate this unique slice of Americana each year.

    Beautifully illustrated throughout with stunning colour photographs of food, vintage, and retro ephemera, showcased here are close to 80 Blue Ribbon–winning recipes from across America's heartland. What's not to love about homemade pies and cakes, jams and jellies, pickles, preserves, and sweets! County Fair weaves together a celebration of classic, prize-winning regional specialties, secret tips for stocking your pantry, and the legacy of an American institution.

  • The Ten Best Books About Food of 2021
    - Smithsonian Magazine 

    Author Liza Gershman is known for her eye-catching cookbooks, and County Fair is no exception. With a focus on recipes that have been awarded the Blue Ribbon, an award of excellence often given out at small town, county and state fairs, Gershman gathers dishes from all 50 states, as well as ample 4H and FFA livestock events. Close to 80 recipes in total highlight the types of foods that fill your stomach and make your heart light with nostalgia. We're talking items like orange lemon citrus bread, a Wisconsin State Fair winner, and triple chocolate rebel cookies, a recipe that won the Best of Show prize at the Illinois Sangamon County Fair. “I suppose I'm a bit old-fashioned,” writes Gershman, a Generation Xer, in the book’s intro, “one foot always in the time before tech and one foot embracing the modern day.” Through full-page color photos, a chapter on pantry stocking and even a brief history on fairs in the U.S., County Fair evokes a sense of small town Americana that we at Smithsonian are thoroughly smitten with, as evident by our annual round-up of Best Small Towns to Visit.

    — Smithsonian Magazine, 2021 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-best-books-about-food-of-2021-180979207/

BUY CUBAN FLAVOR ON AMAZON

  • A lush journey through Cuba, its paladars, and its flavorful cuisine.

    For Cubans, food is a complex story—a tapestry of love and loss woven so deeply into their culture that it goes well beyond that of history or sustenance. Gershman, who’s love affair with Cuba began long before her first visit, takes you along on a photojournalistic journey through the streets of Cuba and its paladares through her stunning photographs of the country’s glorious sights, the lively people, and, of course, the amazing variety of food.

    Much more than a cookbook, Cuban Flavor is an introduction to a revolutionary era of Cuban cuisine: a new frontier. From the succulent spiced meat of the national Ropa Viejo, simmered in a tomato-based criollo sauce, to the sweet and sticky Arroz Con Leche or the local favorite, Flan served in a soda can, Cuban cuisine has something for every palate.

  • The Ten Best Books About Food of 2021
    - Smithsonian Magazine 

    Author Liza Gershman is known for her eye-catching cookbooks, and County Fair is no exception. With a focus on recipes that have been awarded the Blue Ribbon, an award of excellence often given out at small town, county and state fairs, Gershman gathers dishes from all 50 states, as well as ample 4H and FFA livestock events. Close to 80 recipes in total highlight the types of foods that fill your stomach and make your heart light with nostalgia. We're talking items like orange lemon citrus bread, a Wisconsin State Fair winner, and triple chocolate rebel cookies, a recipe that won the Best of Show prize at the Illinois Sangamon County Fair. “I suppose I'm a bit old-fashioned,” writes Gershman, a Generation Xer, in the book’s intro, “one foot always in the time before tech and one foot embracing the modern day.” Through full-page color photos, a chapter on pantry stocking and even a brief history on fairs in the U.S., County Fair evokes a sense of small town Americana that we at Smithsonian are thoroughly smitten with, as evident by our annual round-up of Best Small Towns to Visit.

    — Smithsonian Magazine, 2021 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-best-books-about-food-of-2021-180979207/

Learn more about Liza Gershman