Over 12,000 pounds of strawberries go into Pleasant Grove’s Strawberry Days
Boston Medeiros of Pleasant Grove tops strawberries, discarding the top and keeping the rest, on Friday, June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
Topped strawberries are set aside for storage on Friday, June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
The Hernandez family of Pleasant Grove volunteer together, topping strawberries along with many other families who came together on Friday, June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
Gustavo Castanera of Cedar Hills takes part in the strawberry topping on June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove, Utah. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
Boston Medeiros prepares the strawberries to be used in the signature dish of Strawberry Days — strawberries and cream, on Friday, June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
Boston Medeiros runs back down the truck ramp after bringing topped strawberries to the truck on June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
Walter Adamson of Pleasant Grove prepares strawberries along with many other volunteers, many of whom have been doing this for years, on June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove, Utah. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
Erik Bayles, of Pleasant Grove, takes a box of topped strawberries from Kysen Weakley, also of Pleasant Grove, which will be stored and used for the strawberries and cream on June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove, Utah. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
Thousands of strawberries are stored in a freezer to be used in the dishes served on June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove, Utah. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
A sign shows the specific process to be used to top strawberries June 21, 2019, at the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove, Utah. (Photo by Michael Schnell, special to the Daily Herald).
In the 98 years since it’s conception, it’s entirely possible that Pleasant Grove residents have sliced over 1 million pounds of strawberries for their annual city celebration, Strawberry Days. That is, if this year’s number of strawberries is anything to go by.
Coming in at over 12,000 pounds, literally tons of strawberries were ordered by the Strawberry Days Association to make the weeklong event’s famous strawberries and cream.
Lisa Young has been chairman of the Strawberry Days Association for three years and has volunteered on the committee for Strawberry Days for close to 25 years. Her dad served as chairman, too. For Young, like many Pleasant Grove residents, volunteering is simply tradition.
Every year, the association puts out a bid for local grocery stores to provide the strawberries. This year, they’re being provided by Associated Foods. Young wasn’t able to give an exact figure for how much the strawberries cost this year, but she did remember they cost $2 more per case than they did last year, although the strawberries and cream cups have only gone up about 50 cents in price.
The strawberries are delivered every day to the Pleasant Grove rodeo grounds and stored in an enormous walk-in cooler. Then, all week long from 4 to 6 p.m., between 100 and 200 volunteers meet at the rodeo grounds to “top” 450 cases of strawberries.
“We don’t wash them or anything, we just top them,” Young explained.
Then, when the strawberries are ready to be used, a different set of volunteers — typically a group from the community that will then have the money raised from selling the strawberries donated to their team or club — comes to wash, slice, and pair the strawberries with cream.
“We have volunteers that just want to come down and be a part of the community from 4 to 6. Pretty much we take any age group, you would be shocked,” Young said. “We have a couple of people that are in their 80s or 90s. They come down every night, because it’s just been a part of their family tradition to volunteer.”
The call for volunteers is typically put out first on Facebook, but volunteer coordinator Debbie Hong said she also reaches out to local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregations to get people to sign up as well. However, she said, there are always plenty of people who come without signing up, many of them older members of the community, because of the tradition like Young mentioned.
Hong said her favorite part of Strawberry Days is seeing people in the community connect without the distractions of mobile phones or other handheld tech.
“I think it’s really fun for people to sit down and talk to each other,” Hong said. “And just see how excited people are to just eat the strawberries.”
The strawberries may be good, but it’s the cream that takes the cake. The secret? “The cream is actually the sundae mix that they pour into a soft serve ice cream machine,” Young said.
It’s delivered every day in gallon jugs by a milkman and stored in the enormous walk-in cooler with the cases of strawberries before being poured on top of a cup of sliced strawberries.
“Strawberries and cream is such the iconic part,” Young said.
But perhaps even more iconic, to Young and Hong, is the way the preparation of the strawberries cream brings people, young and old, together to serve.
“Learning to serve and not getting anything back,” Young said. “Doing something for nothing, doing service is awesome.”
Strawberries and cream is selling for $2 a cup and is available until supplies run out Saturday.