I wanted to take the time to reflect and say thank you to all my contacts that made the festival successful. I love to hand write personal thank you notes but unfortunately, with all that is taking place with the coronavirus, I am not able to this year.
Briefly, the 2020 Florida Strawberry Festival welcomed in a little over 524,000 (524,254) from Feb 27-March 8. We were a bit down from our record-breaking year in 2019 but were right at the 2018 attendance.
Historically, the festival opens its gates for 11 days and a half-million or more will visit us annually. A tradition like no other, the festival offers family-oriented shows, headline entertainment, rides, various foods, arts and crafts and so much more while highlighting the crop that brings us all together… the strawberries! Having partners and relationships that we have created is a huge part of our success.
I want to say thank you for helping us be what we are today; a community-driven event that is passionate about their patrons. Our focus is our visitors and we want all of them to enjoy their time spent with us as they explore your products and services and take in all the festival has to offer.
The festival was so fortunate to end just a couple of days before Florida really felt the impact of the virus, even though we feel that it hurt our attendance somewhat, we are still very lucky to have gotten through our 11 days and had a chance to look back and reminisce knowing that so many other events throughout the state and country have been cancelled or postponed. Again, we are so privileged for being able to complete the festival and are looking forward to the 86th annual Florida Strawberry Festival, March 4-14, 2021. Mark your calendars!
With great appreciation!
Lee Bakst, Assistant General Manager
Florida Strawberry Festival