Garden Grove Strawberry Festival & Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Parade  May 25-28, 2012 Memorial Weekend strawberryfestival.org

"A Tradition Since 1958", enjoy four fun filled days of festivities with the largest community parade on the West Coast. Parade starts Saturday at 10 a.m. on Chapman at 9th Street, heads toward Euclid, where it turns and goes just past Lampson.

Location: Village Green, between Euclid and Main Street Streets in downtown Garden Grove, CA.

Garden Grove Strawberry Festival is the event to attend if you love sweet, delicious strawberries. There are still fields remaining that grow strawberries in Orange County, though California's Central Coast produces more strawberries commercially now as the Southern California urban growth has caused most fields to disappear.

At this event, there are hundreds of thousands of delicious, ripe strawberries served in shortcakes and tasty foods served during the Memorial Weekend.

A mere 230 miles distance is another popular Strawberry Festival in Arroyo Grande. There are plenty of strawberries to go around at both events and you can have your pick of the crop on this weekend.

Garden Grove's Strawberry Festival follows after several popular events, the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival in April, and Oxnard Strawberry Festival in May.  The Garden Grove event appeals to mostly a local audience, but its close proximity to Disneyland and dates (always on Memorial Weekend) makes for a great escape and head-start on a summer vacation.

Garden Grove, named for the groves of oranges that once filled the air with sweet smells, does contain a few strawberry fields and patches today.

Kiddie carnival rides, adult thrill rides,  a fairway, food booths and homespun entertainment with beauty queens, singers, dance acts and contests provide for truly a community atmosphere in the heart of an urban area.

Strawberry pie eating contest is one of the most colorful, messy, and most fun events--certainly a highlight. If you don't enter the competition, be sure to buy some strawberry desserts. Purchases often support community organizations and causes. Shortcake is the yellow or white cake, topped with fresh, whole strawberries (or cut pieces) and  whipped cream topping.

 All proceeds going to local charities, scholarships and non profit organizations. Large carnival with several thrilling rides. Almost 200 vendors selling products of all sorts. Crafts fair, beautiful baby contest, the worlds largest strawberry short cake, with over 250,000 people attending the four day event.