Our friends, Liz and Mike, invited us to attend the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City, FL, with them. The festival was first held in 1930 to celebrate the bountiful strawberry harvest in the area. After a six-year break during WWII, the festival has been held annually since.
The 2019 festival ran from February 28 to March 10. We attended on American Heroes Day when admission for veterans was free (for Mike and John). Adult (age 13+) admission is $10 (plus the cost of carnival rides).
Exhibits of agriculture, commerce, industry, livestock, fine arts, horticulture, and crafts are featured. And we meandered through it all! Below are some vendors we saw.
Today more than 10,000 acres of strawberries are cultivated here. One of the most popular activities during the festival is eating luscious, ripe strawberries! There are ones for sale, ones to eat, and even photo opportunities with one!
Below is Mike enjoying the divine strawberry shortcake featured at every festival. Many food vendors offered other options.
A large exhibit showcases the strawberry-growing industry in the area. The 2018 John Deere tractors on display cost over $250,000! The rocking chairs on the porch at the exhibit were a welcome break.
Crafts were displayed in one of the exhibit halls including prizes awarded for baked goods, cake baking/decoration, quilts, flower decorating and more. And we ran into this huge walking/talking robot, there!
We all bought some raffle tickets to win a Corvette (valued at $83,000+). The winner may elect to receive cash or another Chevrolet vehicle, if desired. The drawing was held on Sunday, but, alas, none of us held a winning ticket.
The livestock barns had rabbits and chickens when we visited. And we saw a cow-milking demonstration, too.
One of the highlights of the day were the Robinson’s Amazing Pig Races. There were large pigs, baby pigs, and swimming pigs! They were so much fun to watch and they seem happy to run around the track for the treat at the end…an oreo cookie!
We wrapped up the day checking out the carnival rides and games.
John agreed to go on the ferris wheel with Liz and me (not his favorite thing), while Mike waited for us on his scooter (Liz rented it for him because of his broken foot). We had great views of the festival from the top!
And Liz rode Pharoh’s Fury…you can see her with her hands in the air as the gondola swings higher and higher.
In addition to the rides, there were many carnival games. Liz attempted to win a gold fish, but I think Mike was (secretly) happy that they did not need have to take one home!
We left around 6 pm, but Liz and Mike had tickets to see STYX at their 7:30 pm show. (They told us the next day that it was fantastic.)
The Florida Strawberry Festival has something for everyone! We always enjoy local events in the communities we visit and this one was really fun! For additional information about the 2019 festival or plans for the 2020 Florida Strawberry Festival, go to flstrawberryfestival.com.
Could not have had a better time with our fun friends....
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