The Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival is back but with a new twist.
People will be entering the Santa Maria Fairpark in a drive-thru style, ordering from the booth of their choice and receiving the food from the comfort of their cars.
"We will be doing strawberry funnel cakes, strawberry shortcakes, strawberry cheesecake, cotton candy,” owner Fanny's Fabulous Funnel Cakes, Mary Beth Mize said.
People will get to pick and choose a variety of foods from six different vendors.
Vendors include:
1. Fanny's Fab Funnel Cakes
2. Colossal Dogs
3. The Giant Cone
4. Noel's Mexican Food
5. Log Cabin Kettle Corn
6. Old West Cinnamon Rolls
And despite the shortage of ripe berries due to the weather Fairpark officials say they were able to make this year’s event work.
"So what we've done is we've been able to reach out to different strawberry growers and now we get to offer a selection of berries,” Rebecca Barks with the Santa Maria Fairpark foundation said.
Different growers will be set up each day. First-timers like Colossal Dogs said they are excited to be part of this event especially after being hit with the fair cancellations last year caused by the pandemic.
"We are very thankful very blessed to come out here but also we just want to get our stand recognized for the quality and our professionalism and hopefully be a part of this event again,” Monica Jackson, manager of Colossal Dogs said.
Mark Davis who has been coming to the strawberry festival for more than 20 years said he's glad to be back.
"They did really good with bringing back seasoned veterans, concessions that have been here for many years, and I'm just looking forward to seeing the public that we've been missing since the shutdown,” Davis said.
The Strawberry Cruzin' event will run on Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and throughout the rest of the week Friday-Sunday from 12 to 8 p.m.
Admission to the Fairpark is a donation of your choice which will be going to the Fairpark foundation and will also benefit youth scholarships.
