What to Know
- The 38th Annual California Strawberry Festival
- $15 adult (single day; other ticketing options are available); May 18 and 19 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds
- The festival, which moved from Oxnard to Ventura in 2023, is known for a bevy of berry-themed bites and beverages
Citrus fruits have filled our sunshine-themed hankerings this spring, thanks to the full-to-bursting trees that can be fruitfully found across Southern California.
But May always takes a rosier turn, and a seedier spin, too, thanks to a berry that is at the center of our sweetest, most luscious, most whipped-creamy longings.
It's the strawberry, a produce aisle MVP that just happens to have its own large and long-running festival right here in the Golden State.
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California Strawberry Festival is the juicy jamboree, a don't-wear-a-white-shirt spectacular that is all about trying all sorts of tangy treats, sometimes without using your hands (if you happen to find yourself in a pie-eating contest).
And if you're a fan of this festival, you likely know a few things: It moved from Oxnard to Ventura in 2023, it's home to the ultra-cute Berry Baby Contest, the event's midway is dubbed Strawberryland, and, the treats?
Oh... the treats.
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You can count on a colorful bounty of berry-centered snacks and sips at the festival, which tangily tarts up our strawberry-obsessed worlds on May 18 and 19 in 2024.
The festival's team has revealed a few of the foodstuffs (and drinkstuffs) visitors can expect when the fun gets whirling at Ventura County Fairgrounds over the third weekend in May.
The festival wouldn't be the festival without all of those chocolate-covered strawberries and that chewy-gooey champ, the strawberry-topped funnel cake.
But there are other mouth-puckering pleasures, from strawberry nachos to strawberry kabobs.
Deep-fried strawberries are most definitely a thing, as are strawberry tacos. And strawberry beer will make a refreshing return, as will strawberry margaritas.
Let us pause, though, before the ultimate royalty of this venerable affair, which will mark four flavorful decades in 2026: strawberry shortcake. For five bucks you can enjoy a build-your-own strawberry shortcake, so count on all of your cakey flights of fruitful fantasy coming true.
Unless, of course, you're bewitched by the notion of a simple, straight-up bowl of strawberries and whipped cream, which also tempts.
For more on the festival, including the contests, rides, crafts, and more, "funnel" your attention in the direction of this site pronto.
