Strawberry Season Kicks Off at a Beloved Festival in Oxnard

The California Strawberry Festival will celebrate its 36th anniversary on May 18 and 19 with something for every strawberry lover. The two-day event that attracts visitors from throughout California takes place at Strawberry Meadows of College Park in Oxnard.

Satisfying your taste buds will be easy. Each of the festival’s 50 food vendors is required to serve at least one tasty strawberry-themed item. Festivalgoers can stick to traditional strawberry favorites such as shortcake, pies and funnel cakes or be a little daring with strawberry nachos, deep-fried strawberries, berry kabobs, strawberry tamales and strawberry chimichangas. Strawberry smoothies, beer, margaritas and daiquiris will also be served. For do-it-yourselfers, festivalgoers can build their own strawberry shortcakes at the Strawberry Shortcake Tent. They can load their bowl with as much shortcake, whipped cream and strawberries they can fit.

Many nonprofit groups are behind these tasty items. The non-profit food booths reap 100% of sales for their cause. Over the past three decades, more than $4.5 million dollars has benefitted more than 30 southland charities. Each nonprofit organization receives a stipend or grant to participate. It adds up to over $127,000 given out by the festival each year.

Strawberries and Ventura County are perfect for each other. Ideal weather and fertile soil mean strawberries are Ventura County’s number one crop—farmers grow over 350,000 tons annually (Source: Ventura County Farm Bureau). More than 1.5 million strawberries will be picked fresh from the fields and eaten during the two-day festival.

For more information on the event, go here.