Artichoke Festival (formally known as Castroville Artichoke Festival) is a food festival held annually in Monterey, a town in Monterey County of the U.S. State of California. The city, which calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World",[1] began promoting the artichoke with a festival in 1960, and the festival has grown so large that it has been moved out of the town, into a nearby convention center. Artichoke Festival 2009 marked the 50th anniversary of this celebration.