Guests at the Florida Strawberry Festival had tons of options for entertainment and education. In terms of farm life, there were exhibits of swine, steers, poultry, rabbits, beef breeds, lambs, dairy, steers, and horticulture. Different days offered shows of these farm animals in arenas on the Festival grounds. One of the exhibits connected people to strawberry growing; another one to agricultural history.
So many city folks have moved into town, and commute to city jobs, many of today’s residents may not be connected to the deep strawberry roots of Plant City. Also, thousands of people visit the Festival from different states who aren’t familiar with strawberry growing. So, the Festival set out to educate visitors about strawberry production.
The Florida Strawberry Growers Association planted an actual field of strawberries in the midst of the Festival grounds. This annual display is the only one of its kind in the U.S. that showcases winter strawberry production. The exhibit educated about general methods of commercial agriculture. The 16-row field was grown primarily to teach the general public how strawberries are grown in Florida. A historical progression of tractors also lined one side of the exhibit.
In Florida, the strawberry harvest comes from strawberry plants that are set out annually, rather than from perennial plants. For the exhibit, a tractor was set in the field to look as it would when mounding soil into raised beds for strawberries, and then setting transplants through slits in polyethylene row covers. Strawberry growers begin preparing the ground in late August or early September. In general, two pounds of fertilizer with micronutrients, including boron, per 10 feet of row are incorporated into the bed before planting. About one-half of the nitrogen in the fertilizer is in a slow release form. One quarter of the fertilizer is mixed in the dirt evenly across the top of the bed. Drip irrigation tape or tubing can be laid (emitter side up) in a two-inch deep trench down the center of the bed. One inch of soil is placed on top of the tubing. The rest of the fertilizer is condensed in a narrow band in the soil along the middle of the bed.
The preparation allows strawberry growers to plant the last week of September or first of October. So, by Thanksgiving commercial growers can harvest their first crop of strawberries. Between Thanksgiving and Easter, each plant will be hand-harvested every three days. During those months, Florida Strawberries can be found in grocery stores in Florida, and shipped nationwide.
The Festival pioneer village displayed skills that were common amongst people as they made lives in frontier Florida, but are rare today. Live demonstrations of spinning thread, carving kitchen tools out of wood, blacksmithing, and whip making, were ongoing.
“I’m a blacksmith by trade, and I make things out of my own steel,” Lewis Riggleman, the owner of Ram’s Head Forge in Dade City, said. He heats a creation in his forge at least five times before it is ready. “I am in the process of making s-hooks. The next time I bring this out of the fire, I will put it in the vise and press it.”
“It is probably 65 years ago when I made my first whip,” Courtney Bailey, Plant Citian and proprietor of OL Cracker Whips said. “It is a hobby….I can make an eight-footer in about a day….I put centers in them and plaits over it and have two plaits in the center.” Bailey’s whips cost $20 per foot.
Other exhibits presented a tent of live butterflies, walls, of art and photos, the Strawberry Festival History Center, and the Strawberry Queens Exhibit. Don’t miss these examples of rich tradition and culture next year.