Linda Butler - Correspondent | Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:10 am
Strawberry Days is a celebration of community. From the early 1900s through the 1950s, Pleasant Grove was a major strawberry producer. In 1921, the first Strawberry Day celebrated both the strawberries and the community that grew them. In time, the strawberry fields have become subdivisions; "Strawberry Day" has become "Strawberry Days" and the festival has grown into an exciting week of fun. The oldest continuing celebration in the state, this year's Strawberry Days runs today through Monday, encompassing eight days of community celebration.
One event unique and central to Strawberry Days is the free Strawberry Days Family Concert on Tuesday evening. Everything about the concert is free: admission, parking and even the refreshments.
"We're planning to serve 200 cases, about 1,600 cups, of strawberries at the concert," said Scott Fugal, who is in charge of the strawberries and food concessions.
Throughout the hourlong concert, the audience can listen to some good old rock 'n' roll from the '50s to the '80s by The Flashback Brothers and enjoy a complimentary cup of strawberries and cream.
The music and the strawberries and cream make for a memorable evening. The Strawberry Days Concert draws from 1,000 to 2,000 people, according to concert organizer Jeralyn Merrill. This is the second year that the concert will be at Veterans Park, a beautiful venue with large shade trees and a picturesque backdrop of Mount Timpanogos. "Now that it's at Veterans Park, you not only get to hear good music, you get good scenery besides," Merrill said.
Merrill said that the Strawberry Days concert is the only one she knows of at which refreshments are provided. "It's a gift to Pleasant Grove. Come have an enjoyable evening and have some strawberries along the way. Serving strawberries is unique," she said.
Strawberries and cream are available days and evenings at the Downtown Park and evenings at the rodeo grounds during the entire festival.
Fugal said that 1,500 cases of strawberries and 700 gallons of cream have been ordered for the festival. Fugal's family has been involved with Strawberry Days since its beginnings. He remembers stories told by his older relatives about picking local strawberries for Strawberry Days. "Up in Scratch Gravel and down by the freeway used to be strawberry fields," he said.