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Florida Strawberry Festival ~ Fun

We are on our way with our Summer Travel Plans.  It was a wonderful weekend and there is so much more to come.  We started out with the Camaro Car Show.  Then we headed over to the Florida Strawberry Festival.  That’s what I am going to tell you about today.  It would have been the perfect day, but it was only like 50 degrees and super windy. It was very cold.

I can’t believe that we have lived in Florida for 10 years and we have never ever gone to the Florida Strawberry Festival.  It’s about 50 miles from our house but it’s mostly interstate so it seems closer.  It runs from 2/28 – 3/10 in Plant City, Fl.  When we arrived, it reminded me of the Erie County Fair back home.  There was tons of rides, food, shows and strawberries.  Gosh, I love strawberries.  And I love food.  So it wasn’t the best place for me to be following the Weight Watchers program.  I have no willpower.  But since we don’t do this very often, I figured what the heck.

We purchased our tickets through Sweetbay Supermarkets, so we got them at a discounted rate.  If you pay at the gate it’s $10 per adult and purchased at Sweetbay, we paid $8.  We also bought our make your own shortcake tickets at Sweetbay for $3.25, for a .25 savings and you didn’t have to wait in the ticket line at the festival which was super duper long.

There probably was a parking lot right at the festival, but since we didn’t know where it was, we parked right by a back gate for $10.  I know that’s alot, but rather than drive around, it was convenient.

Once inside the gate, we headed straight for the make your own shortcake building.  It was right near where we parked.  The building also had tons of strawberries for sale, jewelry stands, strawberry earrings, strawberry necklaces and so much more.

We were able to walk right in to make our own shortcakes because we bought our tickets ahead of time.  Smart cookies we were, lol.  They handed you a biscuit or shortcake, I chose shortcake.  There was a huge bowl of mashed strawberries, whip cream and whole strawberries.  Yum!

It’s all about the strawberries and the entertainment.  After eating our shortcake, we headed to find Bobby from Lizard Lick Towing.  He was there signing autographs.  So cute he is. The line was short and we only had to wait about 15 minutes.  Got our picture with him and then just me with him.  I was all excited.  If only I was younger. (sigh)

Check out the crazy swing ride.  See it in the last picture below.  It’s way above the building.  So high up.  Yikes, not for me!

After that we headed over to Stingray Chevrolet to check out the truck they were raffling off and all the other strawberry colored vehicles they brought to the festival.  I would love to win the truck!  In my wildest dreams, right?  Never say Never!  Of course, I chose the truck and my husband chose the Corvette.

We got to see Alan Jackson’s semi truck and all his RV’s.  Wish I could have seen him.  We tried peeking but no luck.  I didn’t realize he was even going to be there.  Had I known, we would have bought tickets. Bummer!

After that, we walked around and checked out the food.  We had a Strawberry Crepe.  It was a crepe filled with custard and topped with strawberries, whip cream and chocolate.  It was sooooooo good.  Do I have to share?

Then I felt like some french fries.  We had to scope all the stands out because I’m not a big fan of skinny fries.  I found some fresh cut fries that you could have topped with just about anything but we chose just the plain fries.   They were delicious.  Yep, me shoving more food in my mouth.

Then we headed off to find some strawberries to take home.  There were actually quite a few spots, so we just picked some up at the main strawberry building.  I couldn’t believe how cheap they were.  $11.00 for a whole flat.  The guys around here sell them for about $20 a flat.  Rip off!  Look at the size of those strawberries.  No sugar needed.

So we headed home. Bye Bye Strawberry Festival.  It felt good just to get in the car where it was toasty roasty.  When we got home, I got some berries ready for our own shortcake.  I like mine with angel food cake, ice cream and whip cream.  I can have that on Weight Watchers as long as I weigh everything.  I’m not a very good judge of weight, lol so I can’t guess.

I only did half the flat of strawberries.  I like to freeze them in little containers so we always have fresh strawberries.  Maybe I will make some chocolate dipped strawberries with the rest.  :)

We had so much fun at the Strawberry Festival that we are thinking of going back next weekend to see the whole Lizard Lick crew, Ronnie, Amy and Bobby.  Also next weekend RJ and J Paul from Swamp People will be there.  How cool is that?  Have you ever been to the Strawberry Festival?  Leave a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by and coming along on our Summer Travel Plans Tour.

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About Mary Walker

Wife, mom, grandmother, daughter, professional writer and blogger loving and living life to the fullest. Love to travel and share life's not so perfect moments with my readers.