Strawberry Festival

What festival can you go to and ride, shop, eat, and enjoy the sweetest strawberries around? None other then the Ponchatoula Strawberry festival. Which is located only 4.7 miles from Hammond, La and on the northern shores of Lake Poncatrain and Lake Maurepas in Tangipahoa Parish. Ponchatoula was official declared the Strawberry Capital of the World in 1968. They took the title from Hammond, because Ponchatoula ships out more strawberries to the world then Hammond. Which is funny, because I would have never thought that strawberries came from Louisiana. The first strawberry festival board was organized in 1971, and it started planning for the first festival to be held on April of the next year. When the first festival begin it was co-sponsored by the Ponchatoula Jaycees and the Ponchatoula Chamber of Commerce. It only had a few members from each of the organizations to serve on the board. The committee and many other volunteers from the community worked for months in preparation for the first festival.

The festivities started off with a baseball game between Southeastern Louisiana University and Wisconsin State. Then there would be a parade. They even have a royal court, with an elected King, Queen. The Ponchatoula strawberry festival was first called the Strawberry Bonanza, but they later change the name to what we know it as today. The first festival started on the first block of North 6th street and it only had a few booths at that time. It was estimated that the first strawberry festival attendance was around 15,000 people. The Ponchatoula Strawberry festival is a two day festival, it starts from Friday night and ends on Sunday night. Since, the beginning it has and still is free to the public.

When I went to the festival it was really crowded, but I could see why. The Strawberry Festival had something for people of all ages to do. It had carnival rides, music, egg toss, strawberry eating contest, a strawberry auction, and food. It offered some of Louisiana cultural foods such as: gumbo, fried alligator, crawfish, red beans and rice, hot sausages and of course fresh Louisiana strawberries. It also offered food for the Non-Louisianans such as hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza. I love the fact that you could get chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry shortcakes and even strawberry plants all in one place.

Although, I'm allergic to strawberries, they looked so good that I just had to try one for myself. I started itching, and had to take some medication. I really could not help myself, and yes it was worth it. My daughter loved the chocolate covered strawberry, the carnival rides and the pony rides. They had farmers there, and we even talk to some of the teachers that taught the students at the high school how to grow strawberries. We found out the we can buy fresh strawberry right from Ponchatoula's High School. She also enjoyed talking with the teachers and students about the strawberry plants, so much she just had to take home her very own strawberry plant. I did a little shopping, a lot of eating, and a whole lot of walking. The booths had everything from pictures, soaps,