The California Strawberry Festival: Your 2-Day Berry Eating Contest

The California Strawberry Festival was a two-day berry celebration May 19-20 at Oxnard's Strawberry Meadows of College Park. “We have so much more real estate compared to last year,” Daisy Tatum, executive chair of the California Strawberry Festival, said. “The park has been totally improved — we are dust-free this year. There is so much space and now we can see where we can even expand.”

More than 50,000 people turned out for the festivities and a whopping 1.5 million strawberries were consumed over the weekend. “We have everything here,” Tatum said. “But for me, anything with strawberries and whipped cream will do.” There was plenty of that. The “Build Your Own” strawberry shortcake tent itself used 8,000 pounds of sliced strawberries, 275 flats of whole strawberries, 3,000 loaves of pound cake and 1,500 cans of whipped cream.

In case you missed out on the festivities, Squid Ink headed out to the event on Sunday and snapped some photos. Though there were plenty of non-berry-related vendors to go around, it was the strawberry dishes that stood out. From strawberry pizzas to deep-fried strawberries with a cinnamon sugar layer on top — the festival had it all. If the samples and desserts were not enough, visitors could even purchase a large crate of strawberries to take home. Turn the page.

Strawberry shortcake; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Strawberry pizza; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Deep-fried strawberry; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Strawberries at the California Strawberry Festival; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Strawberry parfait; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Flautas with strawberries on the side; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Strawberry beer; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Strawberry smoothies; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Chocolate-covered strawberries; Credit: Clarissa Wei

Strawberry wine; Credit: Clarissa Wei

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