Excitement Builds as Ellerbe Strawberry Festival is Set to Blossom in May

ELLERBE — A few interesting facts about strawberries: An average strawberry contains 200 seeds, Americans consume on average 3.4 pounds of strawberries each every year, 94% of American households consume strawberries, and Ellerbe is home to the world’s largest strawberry.

In 2018, another fun fact about strawberries is set to take root.  Ellerbe will hold their first annual Strawberry Festival on May 12.  The Mother’s Day weekend festival is being sponsored by the Ellerbe Downtown Merchants Association (EDMA) and will be an all-day event.  The festival is still in development and the EDMA encourages individuals and groups interested to participate in the planning sessions. 

Susan Kelly, Director of the Richmond County Agriculture Extension office recently commented; “We have several strawberry farms in the Ellerbe area; it’s a great crop for our county.” “Ellerbe has a festival in November, another at Christmas but until now, nothing in the spring,” said Kelly. 

According to Kelly, “We’re excited; we put an event on Facebook a week ago and there’s already many people who have said they are interested in attending.”  28 vendors have already responded to the Facebook event as well with expectations of that number continuing to grow. 

The committee is continuing to accept vendors for the event and would like to have more crafts and arts as well as some additional food vendors.  There is also an opportunity to assist the festival as a sponsor.  There will be a t-shirt sale with the major sponsors logos on them. 

There will be entertainment and local bands all day long with the event beginning at 10 a.m. and concluding at dark (approximately 8 p.m.).  Current plans also include a strawberry recipe contest.

Lee Berry, Mayor of Ellerbe and local strawberry producer said, “I think the Strawberry Festival is long overdue, I give Mark and Donna Buckeridge at Ellerbe Springs Inn a lot of the credit for pushing to make this happen.”  The husband/wife team, along with other members of the Ellerbe Downtown Merchants  Association, are working hard to make this event a huge success.  Berry commented, “1,900 people have shown interest in the event through the Facebook posting last week and I’m sure it is more now”.  Berry was correct in his assessment as the total interested has risen to 2,100 at the time of this writing. 

The next planning meeting will be held on February 28 at 6 p.m. at Ellerbe Springs Inn.  Anyone interested in assisting with the planning is welcome to attend the meeting. For those interested in attending or participating, more information on the event, as well as the vendor/ sponsor  registration form, can be found here. (Ellerbe Strawberry Festival)

Keep watching the RO for additional information on the festival as it approaches.