The first Strawberry Festival began in 1976 as part of the town’s celebration of the nation’s Bicentennial, offering artisans a chance to sell their wares and local non-profits a place to showcase their activities or raise funds.
It was agreed that the festival’s mission was to connect the community, and all festival profits would be returned to the community.
Fifty years later, on the eve of the country’s 250th anniversary, the June 28 festival was exponentially larger than that first festival, with food-sellers running out of food hours before the festival’s ending. Still, the community mission continued and all profits still are returned to the community.
Dollars raised this year from vendor fees as well as berry and festival merchandise sales, along with funds raised by nonprofits, support community activities ranging from aid to veterans, equipment and training for firefighters, supplies for the food pantry and youth scholarships.
This year, visitors could stop at any of 110 artisans booths, 16 non-profit booths and 10 booths occupied by festival sponsors, according to Beth Leach, longtime president of the Strawberry Festival Committee .
Food was sold by the South Berwick Firefighters Association, South Berwick Post 5744 VFW, South Berwick/Rollinsford Lions Club, South Berwick/Eliot Rotary, Little Hawks Wrestling and St. John’s Masonic Lodge.
Activities for children offered by the Festival and several nonprofits kept families happy while other nonprofits provided educational information and explained their missions. Many of them received donations to help support their activities.
“We had a record breaking crowd,” said Leach.
As a result, the Festival table was sold out of cheesecake at 12:30 and everything else by 2, she said in an email. The strawberry booth sold 3,330 pints of strawberries, 50 cheesecakes, 80 gallons of whipped cream, 180 dozen biscuits and 100 gluten-free biscuits before selling out.
Over at the merchandise table, Strawberry Festival shirts were all sold out by 11:30.
“In fact, this week we are going to be opening an online store so people who didn’t get one can order,” Leach said.
About 150 volunteers prepped the berries at the time-honored hulling party Friday morning, and 50 volunteers served shortcakes and cheesecakes at the Festival table, while countless others helped throughout the event, she said.
Besides Leach, Festival committee members are: Brooke Frank, vice president; Tanya Cattabriga, treasurer; Abby Wallace, secretary; Bridget Pote, merchandise/info booth; Rich Goodenough, flags; and Lynne Hatch, social media.
The traditional strawberry desserts were not the only food consumed by the unusually large crowd. It also brought a rush of visitors to the nonprofit booths.
The Firefighters Association was sold out of over 1,000 hamburgers, 1,200 hotdogs, 400 sausages and around 100 pounds of french fries before the event ended, but was able to continue selling water and other soft drinks till the festival closed down at 3 p.m., according to Colby Leach, association president.
When the firefighters started running out of hamburger buns around noon, members made a quick run to area stores to get enough buns to use with the remaining meat.
“The South Berwick Firefighters Association would like to express its appreciation to the community as well as local businesses for making this year’s Strawberry Festival another great year,” said Colby Leach.
Funds raised by the association will be used to equip and train firefighters and support the association’s charitable fund that assists other community activities, he said.
The VFW had a similar story of running dry early.
The organization sold 90 pounds of french fries, 110 pounds of chicken tenders, 40 pretzels, 40 meatball and 30 Parmesan chicken sandwiches, 30 orders of nachos, seven gallons of lemonade, 15 cases of water and 60 sodas, according to Jeff Chase, VFW post commander.
When no additional breaded chicken tenders were available from the original supplier, the VFW crew called Fogarty’s Restaurant for help.
“Fogarty’s even sent cook Cole Iverson with more chicken and breading, and he gave us a lesson in breading,” Chase said in an email. “It was the busiest SF that I have seen.”
Funds raised by the VFW post are used for scholarships for local students and assistance to area veterans, he said.
Similarly, the South Berwick Eliot Rotary Club depleted a freezer full of gelato, running out around 1 p.m, according to Helen Goransson, outgoing club president.
The Rotary Club offers scholarships and supports several local nonprofits, including the South Berwick Reporter and the South Berwick Food Pantry.
Platinum sponsors of the festival included Partners Bank, Jayco, and DF Richard. Other sponsors were Great Works Chiropractic, Smith Painting Services, Back 9 PT, Renewal by Anderson, Derry Medical Center, United Home Experts and Central Maine Power.
Partners Bank, the most veteran sponsor, sold lemonade to raise funds for the South Berwick Food Pantry.
The annual 8 a.m. Strawberry Run, sponsored by the South Berwick Recreation Department, does not fall under the Strawberry Festival umbrella but has long been a popular part of Strawberry Festival Day .
Race participation was up slightly this year, with 346 total participants: 118 for the 2.5-mile walk and 228 for the 5-mile loop, according to Recreation Director Nikki Drake.
Proceeds benefit Recreation Department programming, Drake said, including support of the department’s summer camp program and to help pay for transportation for the Middle School Gunstock Ski Trip, thus lowering the cost to individuals.
Because of the timing of the trip, transportation by school bus is unavailable, according to Drake. “We use the funds raised to hire a coach bus, which triples the transportation cost.”
