The Mountain Mandarin Festival comes back November 20–22, 2026, and for the third year in a row it isn't in Auburn. It's at The Grounds in Roseville, 700 Event Center Drive. The fruit it's named for still grows in Newcastle and Penryn, the same hills it always came from. Each of those orchards opens when its own trees are ready and sets its own visitor rules. For most of them the selling season runs weeks or months past festival weekend.
If you got used to the festival setting your November, the calendar now comes from the farms.
What actually moved in 2024
The festival left the Gold Country Fairgrounds in spring 2024. Gold Country Media reported that organizers blamed a $20,000 rent increase, which they said put their scholarships and community relationships at risk. KCRA covered the move the same week. The 2025 festival was the 32nd, and Placer County listed it at The Grounds on November 21–23.
Nothing mandarin-themed has taken its old weekend at the fairgrounds. The closest thing is the Gold Country Gift Market in the fairgrounds Armory on November 14–15, and that's a general holiday market with gifts, crafts and cottage foods.
So the event is in Roseville now, and the growers stayed where they were. For Auburn, that turns mandarin season back into a string of farm visits, each one with its own rules.
The farms near Auburn don't run the same way
The four orchards with the most usable public information each handle visitors differently. One allows picking. Most sell only from a shed or a store. Hours run from all day to mornings only. If you assume every orchard works like a U-pick patch, you'll likely end up at the wrong gate at the wrong hour.
| Farm | Where | Can you pick? | Hours and season, as posted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunset Ridge Fine Fruits | 7825 Fox Hill Lane, Newcastle | Yes, by reservation only. Walk-ins can shop the farm store | Open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; site says "Opening November 16th" with no year |
| Mandarin Hill Orchards | 2334 Mandarin Hill Lane, Penryn | No. Packing shed sales only | Seasonal shed: Monday–Saturday 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m.–4 p.m. |
| Highland Orchard | Penryn | No picking policy posted | Owari satsumas, usually mid-November to mid-January; 10 a.m.–4 p.m. daily in season |
| Newcastle Mandarin Ranch | Newcastle | Sells fruit and products at the ranch | 2025 season ran from mid-November to December 24, 9 a.m. to noon |
Sunset Ridge is the only one on this list with picking, and its rule is strict. The site says, in capitals, "NO ADMITANCE INTO THE ORCHARD WITHOUT A RESERVATION," and walk-ins can only shop the farm store. When it closed for the 2025–26 season, the farm called that season "insanely busy." It said the rush pushed it to rework its U-pick process for 2026–27 and promised updates. Expect the booking process to change this year, and check the Sunset Ridge site before you plan a weekend morning around it.
Mandarin Hill leaves no doubt about picking. Its visitor page says it does not offer or allow picking from the trees. It describes itself as 2 miles from I-80 at the Penryn exit, with plenty of parking at the shed. If you want a box of fruit and a quick stop, that's the setup.
Newcastle Mandarin Ranch kept the shortest hours of the group in 2025, mornings only, nine to noon. Leave after lunch and you'd have found the gate closed.
Festival weekend is early in a long season
Satsumas get the festival, the headlines and the November crowds, but they're only the start. Sunset Ridge posts a month-by-month list of what's ripe, and it goes well into winter:
- November: Satsuma mandarins, pomegranates
- December: Satsuma mandarins, Meyer lemons
- January: Clementine and Tango mandarins, blood oranges, Cara Cara pink navels, navel oranges, Eureka and Meyer lemons
- February: Tango mandarins, Cara Caras, navels, blood oranges, lemons, Valentine pomelo, Red Flame grapefruit
Highland Orchard's usual Owari window runs to mid-January. Sunset Ridge's own posts from last season had the farm shop selling Valentine pomelos in February, with about two weeks left before it closed.
So the year's festival covers one weekend in the first week or two of satsuma sales. On Sunset Ridge's posted calendar, most of the variety comes after Christmas, once satsumas give way to clementines, Tangos and blood oranges. For anyone in Auburn, those January and February trips are a short drive to Newcastle.
Why no 2026 opening dates are posted yet
As of October 10, 2026, none of these orchards has posted a confirmed opening date for this season. Sunset Ridge's "Opening November 16th" has no year attached. Newcastle Mandarin Ranch's homepage still shows its December 24, 2025 closing day. Highland Orchard gives a typical window, not a date.
That's normal for a crop that depends on weather. The Sacramento Bee reported in November 2024 that Placer County mandarin production dropped to 643 tons in 2023, down from more than 1,000 tons in 2022. It blamed the long, rainy winter of 2023. One wet winter cut the county's output by more than a third.
Last season had weather trouble too. Newcastle Produce reported that heavy fog and rain limited supply, so it paused shipping over the 2025 holidays and expected to start again in January 2026. The same business closed to the public on September 14, 2025, so one more place to buy local fruit in Newcastle had already closed before that season began. Supply still varied from farm to farm, though. Sunset Ridge called its 2025–26 crop a "boom crop." Fog and rain cut supply at Newcastle Produce in the same season Sunset Ridge called one of its busiest.
I'm not repeating any older farm-directory listings here. One of them already says the business it describes may have closed. If a listing has no recent post from the farm itself, I wouldn't count it as proof the farm is selling this year.
If you're going to Roseville anyway
The festival is still worth an afternoon. It's the one weekend you'll find a lot of growers in one place. Organizers bill the 2026 event as three days with more than 200 vendors, 15 local mandarin growers, 20 food vendors, a mandarin bar, a Kids Zone and four entertainment stages. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Ticket prices, from the festival's site:
- Friday: $8, the cheapest day
- Saturday or Sunday: $14 general, $10 seniors, $8 juniors
- Three-day pass: $29 general, $21 seniors, $17 juniors
- Kids under 10: free all weekend
Tickets are sold online and at the gate, and online orders carry fees. Indoor vendor booths sold out early this year.
Festival weekend is a good place to taste fruit from several orchards and find a favorite. After that, buy from the farm directly. The festival runs for three days, and the farms near Auburn sell through the winter, a few more weeks or a few more months depending on the farm.
Before you head out, check each farm's own site for its current opening date and hours. The PlacerGROWN Farm & Barn Tour lists Mandarin Hill Orchards for October 11, 2026, a chance to see one of these working orchards up close.
I live and work in these foothills, and I like knowing that the best fruit in the area is sold out of sheds and farm stores off two-lane roads. If you have questions about life around Auburn, from farm roads to anything else, Segers Home Services Group is happy to help. Talk to Bill First.
