Florida Strawberry Festival
There’s nothing like a strawberry you can eat the day it was picked. And that’s what’s on offer from March 1 through 11, 2012, at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, Florida.
“Growing Sweet Memories” is the theme for this, the 77th annual festival — the highlight of which isn’t the stage entertainment or the livestock exhibits or the music or the craft vendors but the strawberry shortcake. (Yes, it’s kind of like a state fair, but the Floridians are far too clever to hold their agricultural festivities in the heat of August.)
The event began back in 1930 when members of the newly organized Plant City Lions Club decided to celebrate the bountiful harvest of strawberries. Originally Plant City was a large cotton center, but switched crops in the early 20th century. Today, over three-quarters of the nation’s midwinter strawberries come from Plant City.
Plant City (incorporated in 1885) derives its name not from the surrounding agricultural industry but from Henry Bradley Plant, who extended the South Florida Railroad into the town.
Insider tip: wait to buy your berries on the way back to your car. Every household in town seems to have strawberries for sale in the front yard during the festival, and there’s no way any Road Trips Foodie worth the title would drive away without at least a pint of fresh strawberries.
(Photo courtesy of Florida Strawberry Festival)
