Strawberry Festival draws hundreds to Watsonville Plaza

WATSONVILLE — Watsonville’s Strawberry Festival or Festival de la Fresa drew hundreds if not thousands to Watsonville Plaza on Saturday perusing local arts and crafts, jamming out to local bands, and indulging in the festival’s unique strawberry delicacies such as strawberry pizza and tacos.

The festival, which has been growing back bigger and better since taking a break during the pandemic, was attended by hundreds of locals and visitors both near and far.

“We are excited to have lots of people signing up for our new contest this year called “Berry Best Dressed,” said Watsonville Parks and Community Services Recreation Supervisor Jessica Beebe. “And we’ve got 30 local art vendors and 30 food vendors, half of which are offering strawberry items on their menus.”

Beebe added that the festival serves also as a celebration of the community’s resilience after the devastating winter storms, and the great harvest this year, and also a chance for visitors to join in the celebration such as Kay Arciaha of Vacaville and Peyton Tinnes of San Jose who were both attending the festival for the first time.

“The food smells amazing,” said Tinnes. “And there are so many cute booths and I just bought this strawberry bag. I also just saw that they have strawberry pizza.”

Sandra Zamora and her daughter Natalie of Salinas attend the Strawberry Festival every year for the music, strawberry shortcake, strawberry tacos and all around good vibes. They were both happy to see the crowds return to pre-pandemic levels.

“We always come, and it seems bigger and much better than it’s been since COVID,” said Sandra Zamora. “I like to see all the people dancing and enjoying themselves.”

“I like the ambience and the entertainment,” added Natalie Zamora. “And I like that it’s family oriented.”

Local artist Paul DeWorken, founder of Monterey Bay Murals in Watsonville, was showing off the latest Watsonville, and strawberry inspired designs he and his former student and current colleague Chris Hernandez have dreamed up and screen printed on hats, t-shirts and hoodies for the whole family.

“Our designs are all family friendly and full of that hometown spirit,” said DeWorken. “I do have different themes every year like one year, I had all the pink strawberries, and this year the theme is neon. I had this Tron idea in my head, but the most popular design is still the classic strawberry and the Watsonville bird.”

After indulging in some strawberry tacos, Stephanie Suarez and Max Lona of Watsonville were assisting young artists at a free coloring booth to color in prints designed by local artist Ricky Correia who also had prints and shirts for sale.

“The money raised by the sales today go to continue our free coloring project for the kiddos,” said Suarez. “This a kid friendly off shoot of snail mail project 831, where we send mail to prisoners.”

Near the main stage, Veronica Reighard of Golden West Packaging was offering an art contest for kids. The winning design of the contest will be featured on strawberry packaging that’s distributed throughout the state, and the winner will also be given a tour of the local packaging facility in Watsonville to watch as their design is applied to strawberry boxes.

“We thought that it would be fun to have someone local design the art for our stock box,” said Reighard. “It’s a chance for the Watsonville community to participate and promote Watsonville outside of the area.”

What: Watsonville Strawberry Festival

When: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Watsonville City Plaza.

Cost: Free

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