Florida Strawberry Festival draws big crowds with rides, food and music in Plant City

Florida Strawberry Festival draws crowds with rides, food and music

The Florida Strawberry Festival is underway, bringing rides, headline entertainers, and plenty of strawberry-themed treats to Hillsborough County.

PLANT CITY, Fla. - The Florida Strawberry Festival is underway, bringing rides, headline entertainers and plenty of strawberry-themed treats to Hillsborough County.

Organizers expect more than 600,000 visitors to attend the annual event, which runs through March 8 and is considered one of the top fairs in the country. 

The backstory:

Held each spring in Plant City, the festival celebrates the region’s strawberry harvest, a key part of Florida’s winter agriculture industry.

While much of the country experiences a seasonal slowdown in produce, Plant City farmers supply the majority of domestically grown strawberries found in grocery stores during the winter months.

This year’s festival features more than 60 rides and attractions, along with dozens of games, according to Deggeller Attractions, the event’s midway operator. Offerings range from classic bumper cars and carousels to thrill rides such as the Zipper and the Ring of Fire, as well as three full-size roller coasters.

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Beyond the midway, the festival is also known for its Wish Farms Soundstage, which has hosted major artists over the years, including Reba McEntire, Ludacris and Taylor Swift.

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Food remains a centerpiece of the event. Vendors are serving a range of sweet and savory items, from strawberry shortcake and strawberry milkshakes to specialty items such as strawberry matcha funnel cake, cotton candy lemonade and pickle pasta. Many dishes incorporate the festival’s signature fruit.

The theme for this year’s event is "Still Growing," a nod to both the region’s agricultural roots and the festival’s continued expansion.

The Florida Strawberry Festival runs daily in Plant City through March 8.