Florida Strawberry Festival celebrating another successful year
PLANT CITY, Fla. - From shortcake to lemonade, bread, jams, deep-fried and everything in between, strawberries have taken over Plant City for an "out of this world" experience.
And after serving up some fun for 11 days, the festival has come to a close and festival officials and volunteers are celebrating another successful year.
They struck the right balance of clinging to and honoring their past while enticing newcomers with brand-new attractions.
"We have the right vendors in place...concessionaries in place. This year we had an extraordinary concert lineup that appealed to multiple groups of people," said Kyle Robinson, President of the Florida Strawberry Festival.
Another new feature this year was the history center in the old National Guard armory building, which featured the festival's history and showcased the Queens throughout the decades.
Festival officials are still counting numbers, but they anticipate that this year's numbers will exceed last year's record-breaking number of more than 600,000 attendees.
Officials are already brainstorming how they can improve the customer experience for next year. One of their goals is to replace a tent with a new air-conditioned building.
"I'm convinced if you come to the Florida Strawberry Festival one time, you'll always be back," said Robinson.
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