Brandon Rotarians Hear From Florida Strawberry Festival's Al Berry

Al Berry has lived up to his name, having served like forever as a volunteer with the Florida Strawberry Festival, for which he is a member of the 16-member board of directors.

With decades of Festival experience behind him, Berry has some stories to tell, and he did so Feb. 8 at the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Brandon.

“The Florida Strawberry Festival was not named after my parents,” Berry began, good-naturedly. “The Plant City Alliance Club started the festival in 1930 to honor the up- and-coming industry, which was the strawberry.”

Among the other tidbits of information Berry presented:

• The Festival is in its 76th year, having taken a hiatus during World War II.

• Some 400,000 to 600,000 people visit the Festival annually.

• No beer, wine or cigarettes are sold at the Festival.

• The Festival is run without tax dollars.

• The grandstand area holds about 15,000 people.

• The Festival, as a non-profit, is run by some 2,500 volunteers.
• Festival information, includes a schedule of activities and fairgrounds map, is available online as the Festival's Web site.

• Just under 7,000 kids compete at the Festival, including at the Florida Strawberry Festival Queen Pageant, at speaking contests and at agriculture shows involving steers, pigs and plants. Students compete for scholarship prizes.

• The 2011 Florida Stawberry Festival runs March 3-13 at the Florida Strawberry Grounds, at 2202 West Reynolds Street in Plant City.

“Ten dollars gets you in and there’s tons of free entertainment,” Berry said. “It’s the best bang for your buck.”

Also discussed was the April 1 groundbreaking for the Evelyn and Batista Madonia Sr. Agriculture Show Arena" at the Festival fairgrounds, a 34,000- square-foot, $3.4 million state- of the-art facility. The multipurpose, air-conditioned facility's uses will include cattle, horse and other animal competitive shows. The facility also will be booked for special events.

As for the Festival's paid entertainment, the headline talent has grown exponentially over the years, with the budget to pay entertainers and their expenses accounting for what has become a half- million-dollar budget, Berry said.

“We break even,” Berry added, “and sometimes we even make money.”

Headline entertainment began back when the Festival was in transition, and a greater draw was needed, Berry said.

“I remember one year we picked Dale Evans up at the airport and we paid her $1,500 (and expenses),” Berry aid. “The next year we said, ‘Let’s go even bigger’ and we got Pat Boone for $1,500, airfare, overnight lodging and food.”

John Dicks, former mayor of Plant City, also addressed the Rotarians at their weekly Tuesday luncheon at the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association in Brandon.

Together, he and Berry gave the Rotarians a five-question, multiple-choice quiz, that included questions about the number of seeds in every strawberry (200) and how the strawberry got its name (from the "pinestraw" used to insulate strawberries from freezing).

The fifth question asked for the quiz-taker to name the one artists or group from the following list that would not be performing at the 2011 Festival:

1. Bobby Vinton
2. Kenny Rogers
3. Jeremy Camp
4. Gaither Vocal Band (Christian rock)
5. Trace Adkins
6. The Judds
7. Charlie Pride
8. Clint Black
9. Chubby Checker
10. Chris Young
11. Tanya Tucker
12. Rick Springfield
13. George Jones
14. The Doobie Brothers
15. Ray Price
16. Billy Ray Cyrus
17. Lady Antebellum

Hint: It was was a trick question. 

Answer: None of the above, because all 17 acts — and more — are on the schedule for headline entertainment at the 2011 Florida Strawberry Festival.