South Berwick Strawberry Festival
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Always the last Saturday in June, the South Berwick Strawberry Festival officially kicks off summer. The kids are out of school, camps are open and the weather is getting warm. All over town one can see the bright red, white, and green strawberry flags that not only line the main streets, but can also be seen flying from many houses. The day is filled with food, entertainment, games, and crafts.
For thirty-two consecutive years hundreds of volunteers from South Berwick have come together to put together a
This year, the Strawberry Festival Committee is pleased to announce that they will serve their Strawberry Shortcake and Cheesecake on biodegradable bowls, plates and spoons. We have collaborated with BIOSMART- a company that sells sugar cane Bagasse tableware. Bagasse is the biomass remaining after sugarcane stalks are crushed to extract their juices.
Read below to get all the information and find out what to see, do, and how to get involved:
Volunteers Help Prepare
Preparation of the strawberries starts on Friday, the morning before the Festival, at the Community Center, where over a hundred and fifty volunteers get together for a good old fashioned social to hull, slice, and sugar the berries. Other volunteers get to the Festival early on Saturday to slice the biscuits, prepare the whipped cream and move everything under the Strawberry Shortcake tent so all will be ready for the Festival goers when it opens. Find out how to volunteer at volunteer@southberwickstrawberryfestival.com
Roast Beef Supper
On the Friday before the Festival, there will be a roast beef supper hosted by our local
Pancake Breakfast
On Saturday from 6 am – 10 am there will be a pancake breakfast at
Old Fashion Trolleys
Running every 20mins, there will be old-fashioned trolleys, which will provide free transportation to the Festival from parking locations at
Strawberry Tent and Food
Strawberry shortcakes have always been a favorite of the Festival. They will begin serving at 10:00 until we run out. Last year we served up over 4000 pounds of fresh strawberries, several dozen gallons of whipped cream and over 500 dozen biscuits. Strawberry cheesecake has also been added to the menu and complimented with; you guessed it, strawberries. The costs of these items are only $4.00.
In addition to shortcakes and cheesecakes there is also a huge
Road Race
The day’s activities begin at 08:00 am, a 5 mile Road Race and 2.5 mile Fun Walk, sponsored by the South Berwick Recreation Department and local businesses, kick off from
Entertainment
Throughout the day, a variety of entertainers from around the area will be performing on two stages set up around the grounds.
At the Central School Field Stage, Todd Wellington, professional silly person, gets things going at 9:00; Women of Note, an cappella group at 11:30 – 1:00; the Funky Diva’s of Gospel at 2:00- 4:00.
At the Food Court stage, Northern Explosion Cloggers, a great group of cloggers, at 9:00,10:00 and 11:00; Marcus Gale at 12:15- 1:45 and Chronic Jazz Syndrome at 2:30 – 4:00.
In the Field Area from 9:00 – 4:00 Wildlife Encounters. For the kids there will be a climbing wall, pony rides, a giant tiger slide, dunking booths, exotic animals’ exhibition and much, much more.
Unfortunately, this year, there will be no fireworks display so that the funds raised by the festival can be spent on the community in the form of grants.
Crafts
Over 110 juried artisans will be on hand to display and sell their hand-made wares, including clothing, pottery, wood products, jewelry, paintings, photographs, candles, jams and dips, furniture, and much, much more. These crafters will be located both at the side of
Pets
Please be kind to your pets and have them stay cool at home.
Web Site
You can get more information at
www.southberwickstrawberryfestival.com .
Get a complete printable schedule of events.
This will be the first year my wife and I won’t be busy for strawberry festival.
We are looking forward to attending our very first one.
I understand that if we aren’t there early enough, we’ll miss out on strawberry shortcake. Is there anything else we should try to hit early so we don’t miss out?
We like to do it all early, so it isn’t too hot in the afternoon. We’ve lived here over 20 years and have only missed one – in fact, when we first moved here we moved in on Strawberry Festival day – it made it hard to get through town with the moving vans. Enjoy! It is a great day.
Enjoy it Dave. And take a good look around starting tomorrow through Sunday and add up all the overtime hours the public works department will rack up on your dime.
bss – point made we are all watching dimes as they roll in to dollars, but the question should be how can the town use the Strawberry Festival as a revenue source to off set expenses associated with it?
This is a fun civic event that is enjoyed by thousands of people and it is a boon for area business.
I know that Portsmouth enjoys the benefits from Market Square Day as does Portland with its Old Port Festival.
Let’s hope for good weather and a good crowd of people who come to town and spend some money this weekend!
I’m not on the Festival committee, though I have helped hull and serve shortcakes a time or two. I’m not sure how much money our town pays for overtime, it would be interesting to find out. However, I believe crowds of 10,000 are not uncommon, and the money earned goes to support great things for the town including scholarships, and funding the summer entertainment series. I like the festival, and I think it is good publicity for our town.
…and a town that is lively and has a reputation for being a nice place to visit and live adds value to our real estate.
i cannot argue the great things that the festival committe does with money raised. I do belong to two civic organinizations in town and we also do many great things and we don’t get any help from the public works or the taxpayer. Could the festival be self sufficient??
Good question. It definitely must make enough to cover the expenses of town employees. I guess a Festival committee person would be the one to ask. Until your post I never realized the town paid for anything, except by supplying the space.
I had hoped it would be possible to read about the Strawberry Festival ( – which we attend nearly every year – fully appreciating all the work that everyone, even the public works department puts into it) and not read about negative thought/idea. Please – let the political/budgetary concerns stay out of this wonderful event.
My guess is that the public works involvement is minimal. The vast majority of the set up and clean up is done by volunteers.
KM- I couldn’t agree with you more! Why does everything have to break down into a debate over money. Let’s just enjoy this wonderful tradition!
All I wanted to know was what not to miss.
This will be our first time and we want to hit the highlights.
Do they have funnel cake or fried dough? My wife would like to have some if they do.
Do they have lobster rolls? How about Moes?
It’s not a festival if you can’t gorge yourself on junky festival food.
Don’t forget the cost to cover for police services I would be willing to be that adds up to a good chunk of overtime also!!! this is a tough time to spend money
KM — you must of missed the budget cuts requested by the tax-payer. I think it’s got to be a consideration it is tax dollar supported!! and people want to reduce cost . Iam not sure it can just be ok becouse its a good event.
Dave – Yes! they have fried dough – I think the Knights of Columbus runs that booth – I remember that last year, on the back side of the school, there was more food than I could choose from. They also have some great performances – the main stage has always been on the front lawn of the town hall – the Irish Cloggers are awesome! In addition – if you are looking for hand crafted work – you will be in your glory. Finally – I would consider taking the trolley down. It runs continuously from the Great Works School as well as from the Aggie ball field parking lot. My kids always get a kick out of riding into town on the trolley Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy
Anonymous – No, I am fully aware of the requested budget cuts please don’t assume I don’t know what has been happening in my own town. I hope you have a chance to enjoy the festival.
KM,
We plan on walking down to the ball field and taking the trolley.
It’s way to far for this kid to walk anymore.
We have usually been able to get down to the ball filed for the nightly festivities, but missed not having fireworks last year.
I don’t know if there will be any this year due to the costs though.
This year it’s reversed, we can go to the festival but will miss the night time show.
Last time we went to the ball field, I don’t think they had the same Beatle’s tribute band. I’d like to see them again.
http://southberwickstrawberryfestival.com/
The MHS Ski Team usually has a booth with yummy teriyaki shish kebobs and sno-cones (the sno-cones are quite the crowd pleaser with my kiddos).
Dave – I recall the Beatles’ tribute band – they were great. I don’t think the fireworks are happening anymore – that’s okay – with it so close to the 4th there will be many to see. I hope you enjoy. My kids can’t wait! We will squeeze it in between baseball games. Have fun!
My son and husband always head right for the sausage/peppers/onions booth. I like all the Hesperus hot sauces/marinades. My daughter and I like the clogging and singing groups. And the shortcake is great. (I’d prefer no cake and more whipped cream, but it is tasty nonetheless!) They used to offer strawberries with brown sugar and sour cream but didn’t last year. I think no matter which direction you go in, there is something that smells good, tastes good or looks good, and it is nice to see so many friends and neighbors out and about.
Mmmm, Sausage!!!
The teryaki sounds good too!
It looks like I’ll be waddling home Saturday night.
I’d better pick up some tums Friday!
I’m thinking the Strawberry Fun Walk in the morning might be a good idea. Then I can feel free to eat as much as I want because the calories won’t count.
Festival calories never count!
The heartburn afterwords is another story!
One example of the positive economic impact of the Straw Fest involves
our volunteer Fire Department. Every year since 1976 the members of the
Fire Dept have worked very hard slinging hamburgers, hot dogs etc. The
thousands (and thousands) of dollars raised have been used to purchase
firefighting equipment. That has saved the tax payers money. The same
arguement can be applied to the Rescue Squads selling strawberries, brown sugar, and sour cream. The Marshwood Ski Team selling sno cones.
etc etc etc. And the Festival committee itself makes numerous financial contributions all over town. I’ll bet you lunch that the number of dollars
raised and contributed my local non profits far exceeds the Public Works/Police expense probably many times over every single year.
Having said that, its really too bad that a very positive event that happens
in town needs to be defended on a dollars and cents basis. But its great
that the Strawberry Festival can be.
Rather than worry about the highway guys and a few cops picking up a little overtime on Saturday, volunteer to help out and watch the “dimes
roll into dollars” of income for the town.
I have not been in town for several Strawberry Festivals but when I am here I get involved preparing, selling the short cake, setting up and cleaning up etc. For anyone having a question about this wonderful event just go down there and get involved and you will feel so proud of our community and what it is able to create and being a part of it.
Who is the Beatles Tribute Band? Are they local? Do they have regular performances in the public arena or are they only for privately held events? Do they have a website?
I think the name of the band was “Get Back”.