By: Rut Labrada, staff writer

On April 10 and 11, the City of Valdosta hosted its 4th annual Bluesberry Festival to celebrate Georgia’s agricultural industry, local vendors, and of course, the blues music scene of the deep South.

When I first heard about the festival, I was confused as to why it was blueberry themed, but a quick Google search showed me that the state of Georgia, including the City of Valdosta, is one of the top producers of blueberries in the entire country, so I decided to investigate it more.

Seeing that there was going to be carnival food and blueberry-themed desserts, I knew I had to go out and find the best food spots that the festival had to offer, so I set out Friday afternoon, with a growling stomach, to settle my ratings.

The first place I visited was a food truck called At This Point, Let’s Eat, which featured different flavors of unconventional egg rolls. The name was quite the mouthful to say, but the food more than made up for it.

Here I tried the jambalaya egg roll, the blueberry cheesecake egg roll, and some fresh blueberry lemonade, all of which made me crave more.

I had never tried jambalaya before, so I did not have a baseline to judge the egg roll from, but I do believe that the truck did jambalaya right.

The rice was perfectly soft, and the deep savory flavor of the sausage combined with the spicy seasoning worked together to create a rich taste that I can still imagine today.

The blueberry cheesecake egg roll was also incredibly delicious. The blueberry syrup had the mild sweetness of ripe blueberries, which told me that this was not just an artificially flavored syrup. My only complaint was that the cheesecake was a little bit too mushy, which caused me to make a bit of a mess eating the egg roll.

The blueberry lemonade was cool and refreshing, but I felt it was a little bitter. Overall, I rated the truck 4.5/5 stars.

The next food I tried, needing a break from sweets, was the alligator tail kebab and “fluffy fries,” which I was disappointed to find out were not actually fluffy.

I was scared to eat an alligator tail at first, but it was delicious. The meat was tender and moist, and the crispy outside was perfectly cooked.

The fries, on the other hand, were a little disappointing, and not just because they were not fluffy. The fries were not really fries; they were more like potato chips, and they were severely lacking in salt and seasoning. I did enjoy the crunch, but I did not find them particularly special.

Overall, I rated this location 4/5 stars for the delicious alligator meat.

Afterwards, I was scouting the festival for a cold sweet treat to cool me off in the warm weather, and I found exactly what I needed at a truck called Scoops of Paradise, which served Italian ice and ice creams.

At the truck, I ordered a mango passion Italian ice. I didn’t add any toppings, but the ladies working the counter kindly put some lifesaver gummies on the straw for a little extra treat.

The Italian ice was so delicious that I did not mind the $7 I paid for it. The sweetness of the mango came through in every bite, and it was well balanced with the slightly more tart flavor of the passion fruit.

There was also an adorable cocktail umbrella placed on top of the drink, which made the paradise theme of the truck feel very real.

I rated Scoops of Paradise 5/5 stars for their kind employees, aesthetic drinks, and wonderful tastes.

Unfortunately, at this point, I was absolutely stuffed, so I could not try more foods, but I saw taco trucks, fudge, turkey legs, and more in the seemingly never-ending rows of food trucks.

All the places I visited were great reflections of the culture and population of Valdosta, and I will certainly be going back to the Bluesberry Festival next year for more.