It's time to get berry excited as one of the biggest traditions in the Sunshine State returns for another year of food, fun, and entertainment.
The Florida Strawberry Festival is taking place from Thursday, March 2 through March 13, 2023.
Over 500,000 visitors will make the trip out to Plant City from near and far.
Located between Tampa and Lakeland, the Florida Strawberry Festival is a uniquely Florida Festival that features tons of fresh strawberries, buckets of yummy cream, together with a star studded line up of entertainment, wild rides, agriculture, arts, crafts, exhibitors, vendors, and more, with something for the whole family throughout the eleven day celebration.
The fabric of American life is woven into the Festival through social events, contests, youth developmental programs, and parades with glorious floats and high-stepping marching bands.
You can purchase tickets in advance at www.flstrawberryfestival.com, over the phone at 813-754-1996, or in person at the gate.
Scroll down for all the details for this year's festival!
This year's festival sees lots of new additions including new food offerings, new entertainment, new thrill rides, new vendors, and more!
One of the biggest new attractions this year is the Berry Big Wheel!!
The Berry Big Wheel features 36 fully enclosed gondolas, each holding up to six riders with accessible seating available.
The wheel offers a 10 minute ride and costs $7 per person.
Weighing 400,000 pounds and towering 15 stories high, the wheel features 528,000 eye-catching, colorful LED lights.
The Berry Big Wheel is located on East Independent, near Neighborhood Village and sponsored by The Bank of Tampa, trust us you won't miss it!!
Also new this year is a Flying Water Circus that features demonstrations and stunts with talented stuntmen performing aerial daredevil turns, flips and breath-taking stunts all inside and above an Olympic size pool.
New strawberry based delights this year include:
The Plant City High School Raider Regiment presents the Strawberry Cheesecake Waffle Taco. A made from scratch waffle taco shell is loaded with cheesecake, strawberries, whipped cream, graham crackers, and finished with a fresh strawberry.
You can find the Raider Regiment booth in the Stadium Exhibit Hall by the GT Grandstands.
There is lots of new and berry delicious food offerings this year, and here's a quick list of some of the wild delights you can look forward to!
Very Berry Battered Corn Dog:
A sweet and salty combination that is too delicious to pass up! A berry-battered corndog, deep fried until golden brown and served with a sweet strawberry syrup. Located at the Dessert Factory near Edwards Street on the West side of the festival grounds.
Mac Stack:
A hunk of sweet cornbread, piled high with a savory helping of slow roasted pulled pork, a dollop of mac-n-cheese with BBQ beans, tangy coleslaw and drizzled with barbeque sauce. Located at Piggy Palace on the Southside of the festival grounds.
Langos Ear:
A langos is a Hungarian deep-fried flatbread. The Best Around has combined their traditional elephant ear batter with this European recipe to make a savory garlic-buttered flatbread, topped with a homemade cream cheese and sour cream blend and sprinkled with real bacon crumbles. Located on the North side of the Entenmann’s Strawberry Tent.
The Florida Strawberry Festival represents a piece of Americana, a time in American history when fairs and festivals brought communities together through celebrations of their harvests.
It has continued to grow in popularity year after year through the preservation of this heritage, and is a must do event in Central Florida, and of course it's all about the strawberries!!
Don't miss the midway, with wristband specials starting at just $20!
The thrills await you at the Belle City Amusements Midway, featuring over 85 rides that spin, drop, whirl, and twirl, the BCA Midway offers fun for every age.
The Florida Strawberry Festival offers headline entertainment, along with a great selection of free acts throughout the eleven days of the event.
The concerts take place on the Wish Farms Soundstage, and this year's headliners including The Jacksons, Walker Hayes, Chris Young, Sara Evans, and The Oak Ridge Boys.
Scroll down for the full line up!
The 2023 Florida Strawberry Festival Concert Lineup
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra, 10:30 a.m. (free with paid gate admission) The Oak Ridge Boys, 3:30 p.m. ($30) Walker Hayes, 7:30 p.m. ($40)
Friday, March 3, 2023
Willie Nelson, 3:30 p.m. ($50) Halestorm, 7:30 p.m. ($45)
Saturday, March 4, 2023 Sara Evans, 3:30 p.m. ($35)
Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, 7:30 p.m. ($40)
Sunday, March 5, 2023
The Gatlin Brothers, 3:30 p.m. ($25)
Chris Young, 7:30 p.m. ($60)
Monday, March 6, 2023
Neal McCoy, 3:30 p.m. ($30) Josh Turner, 7:30 p.m. ($35)
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Roots & Boots feat. Aaron Tippin, Collin Raye and Sammy Kershaw, 3:30 p.m. ($30) CeCe Winans, 7:30 p.m. ($35)
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Tanya Tucker @ 3:30 p.m. ($35)
The Jacksons, 7.30 p.m. ($40)
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets, 10:30 a.m. (free with paid gate admission) Tommy James & The Shondells, 3:30 p.m. ($35) For King & Country, 7:30 p.m. ($40)
Friday, March 10, 2023
Wayne Newton, 3:30 p.m. ($40) Train, 7:30 p.m. ($50)
Saturday, March 11, 2023
Sawyer Brown, 3:30 p.m. ($30) Keith Sweat, 7:30 p.m. ($40)
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Leroy Van Dyke, T.G. Sheppard, Mandy Barnett and T. Graham Brow, 3:30 p.m. ($35) Lynyrd Skynyrd, 7:30 p.m. ($60)
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