{"id":238147,"date":"2026-03-26T21:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/238147\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T21:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:59:09","slug":"knotts-boysenberry-festival-2026-returning-to-what-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/238147\/","title":{"rendered":"Knott\u2019s Boysenberry Festival 2026: Returning to What Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Knott\u2019s Berry Farm celebrates all things boysenberry.
Photos by Charly SHELTON<\/p>\n

By Charly SHELTON<\/p>\n

Knott\u2019s Boysenberry Festival has long been the park\u2019s most defining event \u2013 a food festival built around the berry that put Knott\u2019s on the map. And now it\u2019s back for another year of putting boysenberry into everything you can think of. In recent years, the festival has leaned hard into experimentation, sometimes with mixed results. This year, though, there\u2019s a noticeable shift: a return to basics. And it works.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean the menu is boring. There\u2019s still some outlandish dishes that push the boundaries of what to expect from a theme park food festival. But overall, the dishes this year feel more grounded, more coherent with what works for the flavor of the berry rather than just finding a reason to drizzle boysenberry sauce on something that doesn\u2019t need it. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, Knott\u2019s is polishing the rims to make them shine.<\/p>\n

A few standout examples set the tone perfectly. The boysenberry barbecue meatballs are simple in concept but executed well \u2013 and rather than making them a footnote on some other dish they\u2019re paired with mashed potatoes as their own entry for multiple locations at the festival. The kettle chip nachos with boysenberry brisket and boysenberry queso follow the same idea, layering familiar flavors with just enough sweetness from the berry to make them feel specific to the festival without becoming a gimmick.<\/p>\n

That balance has been the missing piece in some previous years. There\u2019s nothing wrong with pushing boundaries but when a dish feels experimental for the sake of going viral on Instagram, it has to really land. In past festivals, that hasn\u2019t always been the case. This year, the approach feels more disciplined. The creativity is still there \u2013 it\u2019s just being applied to dishes that already make sense.<\/p>\n

For example, there\u2019s a dish called The Boysenberry Brick, and if there\u2019s one thing to get for the sake of showing it off on the Internet, it\u2019s the one that is called a brick. It\u2019s a loaf of brioche, deep fried, filled with boysenberry jam and topped with boysenberry soft serve. Go ahead and reread that. It\u2019s a loaf of fried bread. Called The Brick. How could I not get that and brag about it?<\/p>\n

\"\"The Brick.<\/p>\n

But the point is that brick works. It\u2019s basically a giant French toast with boysenberry swapped in lieu of syrup. It\u2019s a dish that\u2019s ready to have berry flavor added without distracting from the rest of the ingredients. Sure \u2013 it\u2019s big enough for the entire French Foreign Legion to share, but this is America and that means it\u2019s a serving for one. It\u2019s unique, it\u2019s eye-catching, both online and walking through the park, and most importantly \u2013 it is delicious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond the food, the festival remains what it\u2019s always been: a celebration of Knott\u2019s history and the berry that started it all. The decorations, the merchandise the overall atmosphere all tie back to that central theme without feeling overdone. But make no mistake \u2013 the food is the draw.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Boysenberry Festival is on now through April 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Knott\u2019s Berry Farm celebrates all things boysenberry.Photos by Charly SHELTON By Charly SHELTON Knott\u2019s Boysenberry Festival has long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-238147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}