Asparagus and Its Queen: The Pride of Oceana County

Tucked along Lake Michigan in West Michigan, Oceana County — anchored by the little town of Hart — calls itself the “Asparagus Capital of the World,” and it has the numbers to back up the bragging. The county grows around 80% of Michigan’s asparagus, and Michigan is one of the country’s top asparagus-producing states, alongside California and Washington.

Why here? Asparagus loves sandy soil, and Oceana has plenty of it, while cool, rainy springs off the big lake are just what the crop wants. It’s also a famously labor-intensive harvest, much of it cut by hand. And asparagus grows fast: in ideal conditions a spear can shoot up as much as an inch in an hour, so farmers have to stay right on top of the fields during the roughly mid-May-to-late-June season.

Naturally, such a proud crop gets a party. Since 1974, Hart has hosted the National Asparagus Festival — billed as the longest-running asparagus festival in the country — complete with a parade, a “Taste of Asparagus,” farm tours, and the crowning of an Asparagus Queen. For one weekend, a town of just over 2,000 people more than doubles in size to celebrate a vegetable.