Courtesy photo.
VENTURA — If you love strawberries, the 38thAnnual California Strawberry Festival is the place to be. The festival is May 18 and 19 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura.
Fifty food and drink vendors will be at the festival, many with strawberry-themed offerings. Festivalgoers can treat themselves to chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberry-topped funnel cakes, strawberry pizza, strawberry nachos, deep-fried strawberries, berry kabobs, strawberry tacos and strawberry beer and smoothies. There is also strawberry-covered fried dough, strawberry kettle corn and strawberry lemonade.
“The food and drink list goes on and on,” says Michael Thompson, festival board member. “For $5, you can pile on strawberries and whipped cream as high as you can at our ‘build-your-own’ Strawberry Shortcake Experience.”
The Kabob Shack will offer a kabob skewer with fresh strawberries and a choice of bananas or brownie bites drizzled with white and brown chocolate. “We use about 120 flats of strawberries at the festival,” says Stacia Mizukawa, Kabob Shack owner. “Each kabob is made to order and chocolated right in front of the customer. Nothing is premade. We want the customer to experience everything firsthand.”
Many of the food and drink booths are run by volunteers. Buena Music Association is a nonprofit that raises funds to support the Buena High School music program. Its festival specialty is strawberry and whipped cream-topped funnel cakes. “People love funnel cakes. Even with all the other festival food, last year, we made over 3,000,” says Angie Palacios, the association’s board president. “Parents and students volunteer for our booth. It’s a wonderful experience for everyone and a great way to finish off the school year.”
The Oxnard Buddhist Temple has been serving chocolate-dipped strawberries at the festival for about 10 years. The booth sells about 20,000 chocolate-dipped strawberries over the two-day festival. “Most of our strawberries are donated,” says Yoshi Usuki, a longtime volunteer. Shifts of 25 volunteers first melt chocolate in crock pots. The strawberries are dipped, put in cupcake holdersand set on racks to cool. The strawberries are then sold individually and in three and six-packs.
Festival general admission is $15, active military with ID and family and seniors 62 and over, $10, youth ages 5 to 12, $8, and children 4 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.CAStrawberryFestival.org or upon entry to the festival. A limited amount of parking is available onsite for $20 per vehicle.
Festival-goers are encouraged to use the free shuttles, which will run every 15 minutes to the festival from nearby locations in Oxnard and Ventura. Metrolink offers a $10 day pass, good for unlimited rides on the day of purchase, and up to three kids ages 17 and under ride free with each adult fare. The station is located next to the fairgrounds.
Festival hours are 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
For more about the festival visit www.castrawberryfest.org or follow on Facebook and Instagram.
The California Strawberry Festival pays tribute to California’s $3 billion strawberry industry. Strawberries are Ventura County’s largest crop generating over $662million in value in 2022.