The theme of this year’s Florida Strawberry Festival is “The Stage is Set!” In its 34 years of excellent service to the Festival, the old Wish Farms Soundstage had supported countless top musicians. The stage offered basic lighting. However, it had started to deteriorate, and needed to be replaced for appearance, and safety of crews and entertainers. In addition, over the years musical entertainment has changed, and now uses more production equipment—more lights, more sound, bigger screens, and more technology. The Strawberry Festival needed to make a change to keep up with today’s requirements for live concerts—including a 2025 act that has pyrotechnics. No names because this will be a surprise.
The Strawberry Festival team intends to continue to bring in world-class talent, and the new stage makes that possible. One reason is the performance area is 65 feet wide and 45 feet deep—which will handle large entertainer productions. The trim height of the old stage was 30 feet. The new Wish Farms Soundstage has a trim height of 42 feet, which is up to standards for current big-name acts. The increase in height will allow fans to be able to see the entire performance area even from the top row.
Another advantage with the new stage is turnover time. The full stage is now 124 feet wide by 64 feet deep. Show times are at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Previously, the 7:30 stage crew had to wait until the 3:30 show was over before they could begin setting up. With the new stage, crews can begin putting together the second production while the first performance is still going on—saving rushing, injuries, and delays. The shows must go on, and now they will go on—on time.
A major limitation of the previous stage was the loading dock. The old stage was only wide enough to take one backed-up tractor trailer at a time. This kept acts with big productions from considering the Strawberry Festival because of the logistical problems and delays this caused—and time equals money. The rear loading area of the new stage can handle four semis unloading at the same time. This capacity makes the new stage excellent for the largest productions.
Of course the new stage cost a pretty penny. “It was a huge decision for us,” Kyle Robinson, President of the Florida Strawberry Festival, said. “We are a fiscally conservative company. But we were compelled to do this to stay relevant. It was necessary to continue to bring in entertainment of this caliber to Plant City.”
Among the high-caliber entertainers this year are:
• Reba McIntire – February 28, this show has already sold out.
• Sara Evans – March 4 at 3:30
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – March 5 at 7:30
• Whiskey Myers – March 6 at 7:30
• Boyz II Men – March 3 at 7:30 p.m.
• Lauren Daigle (who sang the America the Beautiful at the most recent Superbowl) – March 1 at 7:30
• Chris Tomlin – March 4 at 7:30 p.m.