Strawberry Festival Essay Example

Strawberry Festival Essay The most popular fruit in the berry world are strawberries. Strawberries are one of the most popular fruits in the world; they are popular between April and July. Strawberries not only add flavoring to foods but they are also healthy and very tasteful. There are more than 600 types of strawberries that vary in shape, size, texture, flavor and coloring. Strawberries are very elegant fruits; many use strawberries by dipping them in chocolate, smoothies, strawberry shortcakes and more. However, an event that I have attended where people have come together to share an interest in something that they all enjoy is the strawberry festival. The strawberry festival is held once a year in Troy, Ohio at their local fairgrounds. Fulton Farms, just outside of Troy is known to have one of the largest strawberry fields east of the Mississippi River. People come out every year the first weekend of June to savor the fun and great taste of the celebration because it is a great time to celebrate the berry harvest. The strawberry festival is one of the top festivals in Southern Ohio and gets a tremendous amount of families and friends to come out every year. The strawberry festival started in 1977, guest would attend the festival to enjoy the variety of arts and crafts booths, athletic competitions, and entertainment. The types of entertainment included, carnival rides, games, riding the boat, enjoy the various interactive exhibits, contests, and free entertainment. On the other hand, the biggest reason for the guest to be in attendance at the strawberry festival is to enjoy the wide variety of foods made with strawberries. We will write a custom essay sample on Strawberry Festival specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Strawberry Festival specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Strawberry Festival specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This festival brings the community together in a way to where they can socialize, have fun, and learn how strawberries bring a great significance and taste to different foods. People come from many other cities to Troy in order to mingle in such festivities as the strawberry festival. Even though it is a community festival others are welcome to join and enjoy this occasion. This event gives a lot of people a something to do and a reason to get out the house on a nice summer day to appreciate all the things the festival has to offer. It gives families and friends a chance to bond and get involved with different activities. The families that come to the festival likes to relish the wonderful strawberry flavored foods and drinks. The parents love the fact that their kids have a great time playing the games and riding the rides the festival has. People also come to participate in the contest they have there. There is a parade for everyone to watch to compliment the other activities accessible for the people. Members from each non-profit group young and old work together to prepare their booths, sell their patrons, and reap the fruits of their labor. There are many different venders that come to set up shop on the fairgrounds of Troy, Ohio. These venders come from different cities around Ohio, and they each have their own business they run for the people to enjoy. Different venders create foods (using strawberries as a primary ingredient) that people try and enjoy. The most popular food at the festival is the strawberry doughnut. There are many different strawberry doughnut venders and there is always a long line at each one. Although the doughnuts are the most popular, it doesn’t stop the people from enjoying the many other foods that other venders have. There are over 55 booths offering a variety of foods from strawberry pizza, strawberry salsa, to strawberry kabobs. There are strawberry funnel cakes, strawberry BBQ sauce, strawberry cotton candy, strawberry burritos, and they even have strawberry sushi. They also make a lot of strawberry flavored beverages both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. These venders celebrate strawberries as a fruit that they can create foods with no matter if it’s fried, baked, short caked, ice blended, chocolate dipped, sliced, or funnel caked. Over 150,000 people come to enjoy these foods and they consume 45,000 strawberry shortcakes, 165,000 strawberry doughnuts, 8,000 chocolate covered strawberries, and 3,500 chicken dinners. The festival puts together a number of athletic completion events the people could participate in during the weekend festivities. There is a big wheel race and a bed race that is held The Friday of the festival. On the Saturday of the festival starting early in the morning there is a softball tournament, volleyball, tennis shootout, pie eating contest, a children’s treasure hunt, and strawberry kid’s crawl. On Sunday a 10k run is held, a shortcake run his held, and another softball tournament is held. The shortcake run is a 2,000-meter run to troy high school. There is also a diaper derby, a Kid’Atholon, kiddie tractor pull, a talent show, a back seat driving contest, and a duck race. The strawberry festival also has a bulk of carnival rides the people can enjoy as they walk around the fairgrounds. The various amusement rides that the strawberry festival offers are the merry go round, swings, and the strawberry patch ride. The strawberry patch ride it is sort of like the spider at Kings Island. This ride was pretty much the main attraction at the strawberry fest so many children wait in line in order to ride the ride. It also was a main attraction because it fit in really well with the theme of the festival, strawberries. The festival also offered swimming, for those who want to get a little wet. There is a water park right next door to the fairground that contributes their facility to this event to help raise money. Along with swimming the water park has canoe races and boat rides that people like to participate in. The strawberry festival is also known for its wide variety of arts and crafts for everyone. There is over 250 artisans display and sell their quality-handcrafted items. You will find woodworking, metal crafts, jewelry, and pottery at many different booths at the event. You will also find children’s items, items for pets, glassware and many other handcrafted items. There is a host of artist there from over 12 states that participate in the annual Troy Strawberry Festival. The festival also hosts a Strawberry Queen Pageant for girls who wish to participate. The strawberry festival is more than just a weekend of eating strawberry flavored foods and fun. This festival serves as a major fund raising event for many of the areas community and charitable groups. The revenues go toward upgraded computers, new sports uniforms, band instruments, and buses for field trips and team competitions. It is also used for Boy Scouts, Senior Citizens Center, and Habitat for Humanity construction and repairs, after school music programs, and more. This festival has grown and continued to stay true to its mission of giving back to the community.