Tales from the Strawberry Fest

Sunday was the last day of the , but there was no downtime for vendors. I talked to several of them about their food, and the logistics of preparing it for the festival.

Volunteers were busy preparing and selling strawberry pies and empanadas in the IF tent. Executive Director, Anita Seth, was happy to talk: IF is a non-profit organization dedicated to humanitarian, educational and social change, and Seth is passionate about the projects they support.

The strawberry pie recipe came from IF volunteer Phil Carr, Seth said. The pie crusts were made in a volunteer’s home, then transferred to the festival tent. There, they were filled with fresh strawberries, whipped cream and strawberry yogurt. The empanadas were bought in bulk, heated and served with fresh strawberries and chocolate sauce. Over 100 pounds of strawberries were donated to IF by Gizdich Ranch.

For Seth, food is a great way to connect with people, to create possibilities, and to answer the question, “What if…?” To that end, IF promotes social justice projects and non-violent solutions for social problems both locally and internationally.

Across the street, Jose Raya was supervising the delivery of dozens of boxes of strawberry filled pizzas, and sliding them into their portable oven. Raya has worked for , in Freedom, for 14 years.

The pizzas consist of fresh strawberries layered on top of sweet cream cheese over pizza dough. Under owner Tim Cassidy’s supervision, they are made at the restaurant beforehand. Cassidy hires extra help to come in early on festival days. The strawberries themselves come from various local farms.

Cassidy’s Pizza has been delivering strawberry pizzas to the Strawberry Festival for a decade, so they have the drill down. Raya and his staff arrive around 11 a.m., and by the 7 p.m. closing time, they are ready to pack up. While other groups may be a bit frazzled, Raya and his staff keep their cool.

Towards the back of the City Plaza, the Lockeford Lemonade stand’s menu of drinks was posted high above the crowd. Reading the menu—which included strawberry lemonade—made me thirsty. But Apple Stiehr—co-owner with her husband,Timothy Stiehr— apologetically said that they weren’t able to serve their lemonades and iced teas because the festival already had a designated vendor.  Instead, the Stiehrs sold several fried food items, including corndogs, potato chips, and onion rings. This year, Stiehr said, they were losing money at the festival because of their inability to sell drinks, and because transportation and lodging was expensive. They drove to Watsonville from Lockeford, near Lodi. “Maybe next year, we can sell strawberry fritters,” Stiehr said, hopefully.

The Santa Cruz Chapter of the American Red Cross had the largest tent in the festival, where they served classic strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. Emergency Services Manager Patsy Hernandez Gasca works with about 100 capable volunteers.

“We are already trained to do this,” Gasca said.

Red Cross volunteers provide disaster relief services, and one of those services includes feeding many people. I also talked briefly with Development Manager Camilla Boolootian. “When we do this, we’re also preparing for disaster,” she pointed out.

Food handling activities were kept separate from money handling, for sanitation purposes, Gasca said. Inside the food preparation area, everything was neatly arranged and ready to go. Plenty of customers were lined up to buy the scrumptious strawberry shortcakes, and in so doing, support crucial Red Cross relief services.

There are many tales such as these in the Strawberry Festival, and they all contribute to a diverse and entertaining event celebrating our locally grown strawberries.