Florida Strawberry Festival President Kyle Robinson welcome visitors to the 89th annual event.
In the late 1920’s, a small group of civic-minded leaders in the Plant City community began thinking of ideas on how to celebrate and promote our area’s premier crop, the Strawberry. Even in those early days, strawberries were grown and shipped from Plant City and enjoyed by people living all along the east coast and even into Canada. Members of the newly formed Plant City Lions Club became engaged in the effort to promote the strawberry and the first Florida Strawberry Festival was held on March 12-15, 1930. A quote from one of the first Strawberry Festival publications states “The Florida Strawberry Festival will be made a permanent yearly exhibit – and to this we pledge our efforts – our enthusiasm – our civic pride”.
The first Strawberry Festival lasted four days and consisted of a midway with rides, a flower show, a band concert, and a parade. All unique traditions that we still carry on today, 93 years later! At this same point in history, another long-standing tradition also began. The Florida Strawberry Festival and the Plant City Lions Club joined together to host the first Florida Strawberry Festival Queen’s Pageant. On March 12, 1930, a Plant City High School Senior, recognized by her blue eyes, strawberry blond hair, and white v-neck satin gown, was crowned the first Strawberry Festival Queen. Ms. Charlotte Rosenberg was the first person to drape the red velvet cape across her shoulders and place the crown upon her head. Since then, a new young lady has been crowned every year, except for a break during World War II.
Although much has changed since the humble beginnings of the Florida Strawberry Festival, what has not changed is the rich culture and community passion for our Festival. The Festival has grown to be the highest attended fair in the state of Florida and ranks as one of the best fairs in the country. Our Strawberry Festival has grown in size and duration to an 11-day event that welcomes more than 600,000 guests annually. We owe the success of the Strawberry Festival to all of the Directors, Staff and Volunteers that have come before us. We stand on their shoulders and pray that we will continue to uphold the high standards, traditions and Plant City pride that the Festival is known for.
This year, we were excited to have so many wonderful young ladies vying for the coveted title of being named the 2024 Florida Strawberry Festival Queen and Court. The Queen and Court are vital to the success of our Festival. They are some of our greatest ambassadors, as they represent our Festival and our community throughout the year. I look forward to working together with the new Queen and Court to showcase our Strawberry Festival to folks near and far. My hope is that we can collectively make this year one of the most memorable years of their life.
The 2024 Florida Strawberry Festival is here. Our Festival Staff has been working hard to give our guests the best Festival experience possible. Our goal is to provide you with something new and exciting to see each year, while always preserving our rich history and culture that many of us take back to our childhoods. I look forward to seeing each of you singing along at our concerts, supporting our youth in agriculture, riding on the midway, shopping at our many vendors and, of course, enjoying the Festival’s tastiest treats.
I look forward to seeing each of you at BerryFest24!
Sincerely,
Kyle Robinson
President
Florida Strawberry Festival
