Strawberry Shortcake is served at the 2021 Florida Strawberry Festival
Most of you know I grew up in eastern Hillsborough County’s Plant City, the Winter Strawberry Capitol of the World. I even competed in the Florida Strawberry Festival’s Little Miss Strawberry Queen pageant with so many of my lifelong Plant City pals. This year’s Strawberry Festival concluded last week and if you have not been, please put it on your bucket list for next year.
Thousands of visitors came to enjoy many of my farmer friends’ luscious berries, buying flats of berries to take home (a “flat” is 12 pints of berries in a flat cardboard container at bargain price.) Most rinse the berries and eat them on their way home, while others who are into making homemade jams and jellies, pies and pastries have a ball in the kitchen creating all sorts of great strawberry delights. And oh the food, especially the decadent fried everything and a variety of strawberry shortcakes, plus amusement park rides, live music, games of chance, and all-around enviable winter weather makes spending a day or two at the festival terrific family fun — even with facemasks on.
For those of you who don’t routinely stroll in a farmer’s backyard, the agricultural exhibition hall showcase of plant varieties, hogs that race around a track, cows that strut their stuff, and future farmers who don dress corduroy blues to vie for the livestock best-of-show is all a must-see! Please put the event on your 2022 calendar for March 3-13 and see you there!
LMA Newsletter of 3-22-21
