People berry excited for day one of the Watsonville Strawberry Festival

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV)- The kick-off to the annual Watsonville Strawberry Festival was Friday and we were there earlier to see how the city and local vendors are setting up for the big weekend.

Watsonville city leaders and food vendors say it's been a hard year because of the storms. They hope the Watsonville Strawberry Festival will bring the community together.

“We have a 'Very Berry Best Dressed' contest taking place 4 times throughout the weekend,” said, Jessica Beebe, Recreation Supervisor, for the City of Watsonville. “So, people can come, show their strawberry flare and come up on stage and compete. We also have three stages offering live entertainment throughout."

There will be local artists and food vendors with about 15 booths will be selling strawberry food items.
One of the strawberry food items is the strawberry pizza made by Corralitos Pizza. They said they will start selling the pizza starting Saturday at the Watsonville Strawberry Festival.

Crystal Maldonado works at Boba Drinks, Delicias Estilo Jiquilpan. This is her 5th year working at the strawberry festival and she hopes it's a good weekend.

“One of my goals for this weekend is that the clients are happy to come and that we have a busy time this year since the last year wasn't that good,” said Crystal Maldonado, a worker for Boba Drinks, Delicias Estilo Jiquilpan.

Others remember why the strawberry festival started in the first place.

"The strawberry festival was right after the Loma Prieta earthquake,” said Jesus Madrigal, contractor for the Watsonville Strawberry Festival. “It's a perfect opportunity for people to come and create community and enjoy the fruits that our earth gives us.”

The Watsonville Strawberry Festival will go on tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 8. p.m.

The Watsonville Strawberry Festival is free for anyone.