Newcastle's 2026 mandarin season opens with two of its fixed points gone. Newcastle Produce on Cypress Street closed to the public on September 14, 2025. The Mountain Mandarin Festival left the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn in 2024, and the 33rd festival runs November 20–22, 2026, at The Grounds in Roseville.
The fruit itself hasn't gone anywhere. It still grows on the hillsides off Ophir Road, Powerhouse Road, Rattlesnake Road and Hector Road. What has changed is how you buy it. Mandarins in Newcastle now come from a handful of small farm sheds, each with its own days, hours and opening date. This season takes some planning.
What the two closures changed
A market in town and a festival nearby gave the season two easy places to buy fruit. The market was in town, and the festival gathered growers in one hall a short drive up the hill. KCRA reported in April 2024 that the festival's move to Roseville came partly from a rent increase at the Auburn fairgrounds. The festival is still a Placer County event with three days of food, music and mandarins. It just sits farther from Newcastle's orchards.
One loose end is worth clearing up. Newcastle Produce's website still shows copy about shipping 2025-season gift boxes starting November 25, 2025. That notice covers last season. The site doesn't say anything about 2026 orders, so don't plan holiday gifts around it until the business announces something new.
Without a market in town, the most direct way to buy is from the people who grow the fruit, at their own sheds.
Newcastle's sheds, road by road
Here is what each Newcastle grower lists as its usual season and what it has posted about 2026 as of early October.
| Farm | Address | Usual season or hours | 2026 status as posted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side Hill Citrus | 10001 Ophir Rd. | Fri–Sat, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., while fruit lasts | Check social media or call for availability |
| Snow's Citrus | 9860 Powerhouse Rd. | November through January | No 2026 date found |
| North Fork Mandarins | 3401 Rattlesnake Rd. | Mid-November to January, daily 9 a.m.–5 p.m. in season | No 2026 date found |
| Newcastle Mandarin Ranch | 3219 Hector Rd. | In-person ranch sales | Last notice says it closed for the season Dec. 24, 2025 |
Side Hill Citrus has the most specific schedule in the group, and it has a new shed. The Ferreira family has grown organic mandarins and lemons for more than 25 years, and their PlacerGROWN listing gives a new fruit shed location at 10001 Ophir Road. The stand is open Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. while fruit lasts and closes on holidays during the season. The family asks customers to check social media or call for current availability. If you know where the old stand was, the new address is the first thing to update.
Snow's Citrus on Powerhouse Road and North Fork Mandarins on Rattlesnake Road both list on-farm sales. North Fork posts daily 9-to-5 hours during the season. Both describe a season that starts in November and runs into January, but neither has posted a 2026 opening day.
Newcastle Mandarin Ranch on Hector Road is run by the Lewis family, and its website invites customers to buy in person at the ranch. The latest notice there says the ranch closed for the season on December 24, 2025. Until a 2026 notice goes up, check the homepage before you drive out.
All four sheds have the same gap. As of October 4, none had posted a firm 2026 opening date. The season used to start when the market in town had fruit. Now it starts farm by farm.
The Newcastle fruit sold in Loomis
One Newcastle orchard is easy to find without a back-road drive, and it's open every month. Blue Goose Produce, run by Westview Growers at 3550 Taylor Road in Loomis, operates a year-round fruit shed. Its mandarins come from the company's own orchard five miles away in Newcastle. That makes it the steadiest source of Newcastle-grown fruit, with regular hours and no wait for a farm to announce its opening.
Blue Goose also showed up at the start of this season's local calendar. The Apple Days Market at the October 3 Loomis Fruit Shed Fest was set up inside the Blue Goose Fruit Shed, with Blue Goose Produce among the vendors.
A short drive farther
Past the Newcastle line, Penryn, Loomis and Auburn have more sheds with their own posted schedules:
- Mandarin Hill Orchards, 2334 Mandarin Hill Lane, Penryn, sells orchard fruit from its packing shed during the season, with daily seasonal hours.
- Colwell Thundering Herd Ranch, 2500 Penryn Road, has a tasting room and gift shop with tree-ripened mandarins, according to the growers' association directory.
- Willow Creek Ranch, 6609 English Colony Way, Penryn, runs an on-farm stand that usually opens around November, daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Struble Ranch, 4927 Hansen Road, Loomis, sells on the farm and online. Its site says it's closed for the season and asks customers to check back in November for an opening date.
- Thomas Ranch, 8265 Mount Vernon Road, Auburn, sells on the farm from mid-November through January, Friday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- The Flower Farm, 4150 Auburn Folsom Road, Loomis, sells seasonal citrus from a six-acre planting through its café and gift shop.
The association directory that lists Colwell's hours dates from June 2025 and still carries a 2017 event listing. Hours in that directory are a starting point, so confirm them with the ranch.
When the fruit arrives
No grower or agency had published a 2026 crop forecast for Placer County as of early October, so last year's harvest is the most recent guide. FOX40 reported on November 20, 2025, that harvest was underway. At Mandarin Hill, rain had pushed back the first harvest week by about five days, and the fruit was a little larger and slower to ripen. The farm still expected a good crop. The same report gave a broad harvest window from November to May, with the peak from November through January.
That timing lines up with the farm listings above, which mostly start in mid-November. It also explains why openings are hard to pin down. In 2025, a few days of rain moved one farm's start by most of a week. Since each shed now opens on its own, a wet stretch in early November can push back one farm's first weekend while another farm opens on time.
The calendar before the fruit
Several dates in October and November fit around the season.
October 11. PlacerGROWN's Farm & Barn Tour lists Mandarin Hill Orchards and Colwell Thundering Herd Ranch, a chance to see two Penryn citrus operations a month before harvest.
October 18. The Red, White and Revved Car Show runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 400 Main Street in Newcastle. Vehicle registration is required to show a car.
On Main Street now. Newcastle Pizzeria, the wood-fired pizza restaurant at 505 Main St., Suite A, is changing hands. State filings show Newcastle Pizzeria LLC, now led by Gregg Pistochini and Jessica Church, filed for a new liquor license on August 17, taking it over from founding owner Julieann Jae Sattler, who had held the license since the restaurant opened in 2014.
November 20–22. The Mountain Mandarin Festival runs at The Grounds, 700 Event Center Drive, Roseville, rain or shine. Organizers expect 30,000 to 35,000 visitors over the three days. If you want to compare many growers in one place, this is still the event. For the Newcastle sheds, start checking in mid-November. Side Hill Citrus's Friday and Saturday hours at 10001 Ophir Road are the most specific schedule any Newcastle grower has posted for the season.
Questions about acreage and orchard land near Newcastle tend to come up around harvest. If you're thinking about buying or selling property with planted citrus, Samantha Gray can go over how orchard acreage fits into pricing and due diligence. Schedule a Consultation.
