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Entertainment

Strawberry Festival keeps growing

For 70 years, Plant City's celebration of its favorite fruit has continued to add more and more features.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
Published March 3, 2005

PLANT CITY - The first time Mac Smith attended the Florida Strawberry Festival, it was in the early 1940s. The event was free, there were a few rides and entertainment consisted of several side shows.

Decades later, Smith, now 75, is amazed by how much the annual event has grown.

The Strawberry Festival, which celebrates 70 years when gates open this morning, features a midway, petting zoo and concerts. There's also a new Expo building, crafts and food booths.

Despite the changes, what strikes Smith most is the festival has remained true to its roots.

"Every year there's some improvement, but it's still all about the strawberry," said Smith, who served on the festival board for 38 years and is a past director. "It hasn't gotten lost."

To celebrate the beloved fruit, the Lion's Club first hosted the festival in 1930. It has been held every year since, except for five years during World War II, when no one felt like celebrating, said festival spokeswoman Helen Kent.

With more than three-quarters of the nation's midwinter strawberries coming from Plant City, according to officials, this city's devotion to the strawberry will continue to be prominently displayed throughout the festival.

The festival board controls the quality and price of the strawberry shortcakes served by limiting booth sales to three nonprofit groups, Smith said.

And vendors will sell everything from strawberry milkshakes, strawberry sundaes and strawberry cobbler to strawberry ice cream, strawberry cookbooks and strawberry hats. Strawberries by the flat or the quart also are available, along with strawberry plants.

And to appeal to younger visitors, organizers have a couple of new offerings: an interactive video game experience and a freestyle exhibit featuring stunt bicyclers, skateboarders and inline skaters.

For the wee ones, there's an expanded Strawberry Patch Kiddie Corral featuring petting zoos and pony rides.

Concerts by big names in country music, which are free, continue to be a big draw.

This year the lineup includes free performances by LeAnn Rimes, Vince Gill, Clint Black and The Oak Ridge Boys. Reserved seats can be purchased for $10 to $15, depending on the artist and the seat location.

Smith said he remembered when the festival was free, and the run was short. Organizers gradually added more days, stretching it to five days, then seven, and now 11.

For a short time in the 1980s, the festival closed on Sundays because of church, Smith said.

But it survived, and in fact, has thrived.

That dispute was resolved in favor of keeping the festival open, since the weekends are the only time some people can attend. And now the celebration is thriving, with a volunteer force of more than 1,800 people, Smith said.

"We've tried to avoid being too commercial," he said. "And it's worked all these years."

The Florida Strawberry Festival runs today through March 13 at 2202 W Reynolds St. Gates open at 10 a.m and close at 10:30 p.m. Midway remains open until midnight. Admission is $9 for ages 13 and up; $5 for ages 6-12; children 5 and under are free with paying adult. Headline concert reserved ticket prices range from $10 to $15, depending upon seat location and artist. For information, call 813 752-9194 or visit: www.flstrawberryfestival.com

[Last modified March 3, 2005, 01:01:17]