120 BEST OF MONTEREY COUNTY® 2024 montereycountynow.com/bestof Best Car Unveiled at a Monterey Auction That No One Could Bid on at a Monterey Auction 1970 Porsche 917K Mecum Auction. mecum.com In the days leading up to its Monterey unveiling on Aug. 16, Mecum Auctions teased it as the “single most recognizable and star-studded race car of all-time.” As the curtain lifted to reveal the 1970 Porsche 917K driven by Steve McQueen in the 1971 film Le Mans, the crowd oohed and aahed. But that’s all they could do—the car wouldn’t be auctioned in Monterey, but instead will be offered at Mecum’s auction in January in Kissimmee, Florida. What a tease. Best Picnic Table to Hike To On top of Ollason Peak in Toro County Park 501 Highway 68, Salinas (831) 755-4895, countyofmonterey.gov/ parks You don’t need to go back in time to experience the serenity and wide open grasslands you might conjure in your mind’s eye when you think of the Old West. You do, however, need to break a sweat to summit an 1,800-foot-high peak in Toro County Park. The Ollason Trail takes you up to the summit, offering an impressive view—of the mountainous terrain flattening off into the Salinas Valley to the east, the Monterey Bay to the west—and a perfect perch to sit, take it all in and eat a sandwich. The simple fact that you’d never expect to find a piece of infrastructure up here makes it all the more remarkable to find a lovely picnic table, silent except for the sound of the breeze blowing through the grass. Best Reason to Anxiously Scroll Instagram for Months Arroyo Seco Reopening Arroyo Seco Recreation Area Arroyo Seco Road, Greenfield (831) 385-5434, fs.usda.gov This here is the Wild West of Monterey County. We’re used to having times when the entire county is either on fire or under water. All those weather shenanigans can take a real toll. A popular campground and riverfront recreation area has taken quite the beating these last few years with fires, flooding and landslides. Waiting for Arroyo Seco’s reopening announcement was like watching a rom com. Will they or won’t they? It’s been touch and go for awhile with some false starts and no real definitive answers but we finally got there with the help of the @arroyoseco_official feed (and Monterey County Public Works…and the U.S. Forest Service). Best Rock Climbing Wall For Kids Esselen-Ohlone Park in Sand City Merle Street and First Avenue, Sand City In 1869, John Wesley Powell led a wild and wooly expedition down the Colorado River and its canyons. No one on the adventure would have thought to climb them for fun. Yet climbing is fun, and children have the opportunity to test their skills on the wall at Esselen-Ohlone Park in Sand City. Yes, it also has other structures, and picnic tables for the lazy. But there is a wall and geometrical sculptures kids from different ages can jump on and reach for the top. Note: this new park is open even as construction of the South of Tioga project continues around it. Best Reason To Visit Sand City That Isn’t Target or Costco or Esselen-Ohlone Park West End Celebration Throughout Sand City westendcelebration.com Annual West End Celebration is one of the best things Sand City offers— which is saying a lot, considering the murals, not to mention the ocean. While its murals, First Fridays and 831 Night Markets attract many locals, West End fills this tiny town with crowds, and the crowds quickly form into a real community, with people united by local music, local food vendors, Sand City’s own Post No Bills and art stands by many artists who work and live in town. Best Festival That Did Not Involve Music (Other Than Ambience) Pebble Beach Food & Wine Cholera, smallpox, Covid—pandemics have a way of upsetting the ol’ ox cart. And so it was with Pebble Beach Food & Wine, without the actual ox cart, of course. Finally under stable management (Pebble Beach Company) for the 2020 edition, the event was forced to postpone. And it remained in stasis until 2024, when revived by Pebble Beach under its charitable arm, the Pebble Beach Company Foundation. There were lunches, dinners, demonstrations, tastings and more, featuring celebrity chefs and standouts from across the nation. What made its return so worthy, however, was the local focus. A number of chefs and winemakers from Monterey County were included in the lineup. Television’s Andrew Zimmern teamed with students from the Rancho Cielo culinary program to prepare a meal. There was a commitment to diversity that was evident in the faces and in charitable partners like The Roots Fund. After five years, PBF&W was back, both bigger and much better. Best Festival That Did Not Involve Music (Other Than Ambience) | Pebble Beach Food & Wine
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