The Florida Strawberry Festival
Since 1930, the Florida Strawberry Festival has celebrated the harvest that made Plant City the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. Now one of the top 40 fairs in North America, it draws over 500,000 visitors each year.
How It All Began
Albert Schneider
Founder & First Festival President
Albert Schneider was a charter member and first president of the Plant City Lions Club, founded in 1929. On July 5, 1929, at a Lions Club meeting, Schneider proposed that the club sponsor a festival celebrating the strawberry harvest and involving all of Plant City and the surrounding communities. The members embraced the idea and formed a planning committee. On March 12, 1930, Schneider presided over the inaugural Plant City Strawberry Festival, introducing Mayor George A. Carey who crowned the first Festival Queen.
The First Festival — March 1930
15,000 Attendees During the Great Depression
The inaugural festival ran from Wednesday, March 12 through Saturday, March 15, 1930. The site was a vacant block owned by Ira M. Allen, running north from Baker Street along the Seaboard Railroad tracks and Michigan Avenue. The Plant City Enterprise and The Courier helped spread the word.
The Festival Queen contest was sponsored by the Future Farmers of America. The young woman chosen was featured in the grand parade on opening day and crowned at the festival grounds in an elaborate ceremony — heralds, pages bearing her train and crown, and a stage decorated with red, white, and blue bunting.
Despite the Great Depression, an estimated 15,000 people attended that first festival. It was a remarkable testament to what a community could accomplish together.
War Years & Revival
A Community That Would Not Let the Tradition Die
The festival ran every year until World War II halted the tradition. Jane Langford was crowned queen in 1941 and reigned until 1948 — the only queen to serve through the wartime pause. In 1947, the Norman McLeod American Legion Post 27 revived the festival, and it returned in 1948 under the direction of the Plant City Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees).
In the late 1950s, the Jaycees returned the queen contest to the Lions Club and Lions Auxiliary, who have directed it ever since. The festival has never been subsidized by taxpayers — it remains entirely community-driven nearly a century later.
Notable Figures
Roy Parke
The "Strawberry King"
1920–2008
Founder of Parkesdale Farms. Served as festival president for two years and was the first person inducted into the Florida Strawberry Growers Hall of Fame. A building on the festival grounds bears his name. Today, Parkesdale Farms supplies thousands of flats of berries to the festival each year.
The Castillo Family
Agriculturalist of the Year
Honored for their decades of contributions to Plant City agriculture. The family donates strawberries to St. Clement Catholic Church for festival strawberry shortcakes and has hosted farm tours, including a visit from former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Jane Langford
Festival Queen, 1941–1948
c. 1923 – c. 2011
Crowned in 1941 and reigned through the World War II years until the festival resumed in 1948 — the longest-reigning queen in the festival's history.
East Hillsborough Historical Society
Strawberry Shortcake Booth
The Historical Society's strawberry shortcake booth has been a beloved festival fixture for decades, located near Pioneer Village on the south side of the TECO Expo Hall. Serving sweet or unsweetened berries over southern-style buttermilk biscuits with fresh whipped topping, it is the Society's largest annual fundraiser, supporting local food banks, children's services, and disaster relief across East Hillsborough County.
Did your family help shape the Strawberry Festival tradition — as a grower, volunteer, committee member, or queen? We would be honored to include their story.
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