Strawberry Festival ready to kick off another year in Watsonville

For more than 20 years the city of Watsonville has put on its best red colors and will do so once again as the annual Strawberry Festival rolls into the downtown area.

But how many strawberries does it take for the city to keep the festival going?

“This year we have secured a total of 9 palettes,” says Israel Tirado, one of the many organizers of this year’s festival. “Which is about 10,000 or so strawberry boxes. So that’s a whole lot.”

The boxes and boxes of strawberries come from local growers, including Watsonville Co-Op, Cal-Giant and a whole host of others.

It’s a celebration of not just the community, especially considering it’s the city’s 150th anniversary, but also of the local strawberry industry.

The food that is associated with those celebrations? Tirado says they’ve had to get a little more creative as each year passes.

“It started with a strawberry salsa. Then they added the salsa to the meat. Then the salsa to the dough to make tortillas,” he says.

Clearly the cooks have evolved with the times, even throwing in a strawberry tamale recipe to prove it.

One thing you’ll also notice is the 13 local charities on Strawberry Lane. All of whom benefit from the Strawberry Festival.

“These organizations do great work in Watsonville and great work in the county. So if there’s anything we can do to help support that cause we’ll do it. That’s certainly one of the goals of the Strawberry Festival is to support the nonprofits,” says Tirado.

The Strawberry Festival in Watsonville opens at 11 am on August 4th and 5th–closing out the evening at 8 pm.

Rides have been expanded to appeal to the older youth of the area.

Admission is free and parking in parking garages does require a fee however any proceeds from that will go toward the Watsonville Cadets Program.

Street closures in Watsonville include Main Street, 2nd Street, Maple Avenue, Peck, Union Street, Beach Street.

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