As temperatures rise and flowers bloom, Knott’s Berry Farm gears up for one of its most beloved spring traditions. The Boysenberry Festival is back, running daily from March 13 to April 12, giving guests a full month of boysenberry‑inspired food, drinks, shows, and fun, celebrating the berry that helped start the farm.
With more than 100 different food and drink options, this year’s menu includes both savory and sweet dishes. Visitors can enjoy spicy boysenberry bulgogi over steamed rice, a boysenberry‑flavored reuben ball with spicy boysenberry thousand island dressing, and a new boysenberry‑pineapple upside‑down cake.
Drinks range from a boysenberry paloma to a boysenberry‑kiwi lemonade and even a boysenberry tequila sunrise. For those who want to taste a variety of items, Knott’s offers a tasting card that includes six selections from participating booths that can be bought online.
In Ghost Town and Calico Park, guests can play games and watch shows, including the Boysen Bear’s Pie Kitchen Games and the Boysen Bear’s Pie Eating Contest. The newly updated Birdcage Theatre will host the family‑friendly melodrama The Great Bank Robbery.
How the Boysenberry Made Knott’s Famous
The Boysenberry Festival celebrates the berry that helped make Knott’s Berry Farm famous. The boysenberry was developed in the 1920s by Rudolph Boysen as a hybrid between blackberry, red raspberry, and loganberry.
Walter Knott later brought cuttings to his farm in Buena Park and became the first to grow and sell the berry commercially. The Knott family used it in jams, pies, and other products, helping build the roadside stand into what would later become Knott’s Berry Farm theme park.