A longtime tradition celebrating agriculture and Florida heritage returns with huge headliners and more strawberries than anyone can possibly tally.
The Florida Strawberry Festival is back for its 88th event in Plant City March 2-12, a tradition that began in 1930 and has run continuously since then — barring a six-year hiatus during World War II. The event shines a spotlight on Hillsborough County’s top crop.
“Florida families grow over 12,000 acres of strawberries and most of them are here in and around Plant City,” said Kyle Robinson, the festival’s president-elect. “Our vendors are awesome and always trying to come up with new strawberry-related items to offer.”
This year, the list of creative cuisine includes fried pies, a “very berry” sugar waffle, a berry-battered corn dog and Mrs. E’s Strawberry Freeze, which pays homage to festival matriarch Ellany Johnson.
Robinson, a Plant City native, likes to indulge in a known festival staple: strawberry shortcake.
“I’m a classic kind of guy. I like strawberry shortcake with the cake, not the biscuit,” he said.
Over the years, this Florida tradition has grown to attract locals, snowbirds and tourists alike.
“We had over 543,000 people attend the festival last year, and we expect big attendance this year,” Robinson said. “Despite the crowds, we are still able to maintain what the Florida Strawberry Festival is all about — celebrating the harvest of the strawberry.”
All fruit aside, the festival has become known for its midway rides — including the country’s largest traveling Ferris wheel, new for this year — free entertainment and its impressive array of headlining acts.
This year, the lineup features Willie Nelson (sold out), Ludacris, Chris Young, the Pointer Sisters, Train and the Isley Brothers.
“We have conversations with other fairs around the country that say, ‘Nobody has the secret recipe that the Strawberry Festival does,'” Robinson said. “We get a good variety of Christian shows, some R&B shows, classic country, new county and rock shows, including Halestorm and Lynyrd Skynyrd this year.”
The festival offers a dedicated morning for visitors with special needs, a new addition for this year. “Special Smiles Day” from 9 a.m. to noon March 3 aims to dial down the loud music and sensory overload typically presented at the festival.
“A visitor and one companion will get in free; they can ride the rides for free and get a $10 food voucher,” Robinson said. “This is the first year we’re going to do this.”
As the Florida Strawberry Festival nears its centennial milestone in the not-so-distant future, Robinson sees the family tradition continuing to grow for decades to come.
“We continue to offer the best value and entertainment. We have not raised gate prices in over 20 years,” he said. “We want to make things new and exciting for people that have been here before, but we try to maintain that same down-home, country fair atmosphere the festival is known for.”
If you go
The Florida Strawberry Festival is open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. March 2-12 at 303 BerryFest Place in Plant City. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 6-12. Children ages 5 and younger enter for free with paid adult admission. Discounted tickets ($8 adults, $4 kids) are available at participating Central Florida Publix stores. Headlining entertainment tickets are separate and usually cost extra. For more information, visit flstrawberryfestival.com.
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