SeeCalifornia.com

They say in California the strawberries grow as big as a person’s hand. If you visited the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival in April, you could have seen first-hand just how big the berries are. But since you probably missed that flavorful event, Oxnard’s offering you a second chance at this week’s California Strawberry Festival May 18-19, 2019.

The Strawberry Capital of the World (Oxnard) is the heart of California’s strawberry industry and its festival definitely has a heart. To date the event has raised more than $4.5 million for local charities.

Among the weekend attractions at this affordable, ticketed berry extravaganza are three stages of bands and dancing, strawberry delights such as strawberry nachos, strawberry pizza, strawberry funnel cake, strawberry chimichangas, chocolate dipped strawberries, strawberry beer, margaritas and wine.

Festival competitions include Strawberry Smackdown, Strawberry Baby Fashion Show, Strawberry Shortcake Eating and Strawberry Tart Toss.

Now, if you happen to be closer to California’s Central Valley than its Central Coast, head for Oakdale Chocolate Festival May 18-19. You’ll like find chocolate-dipped strawberries, superb wines, and an arts and crafts fair to rival the craft fair at the Oxnard affair.

Don’t worry — Strawberry Season isn’t done. On Memorial Day Weekend you can attend the fantastic Garden Grove Strawberry Festival May 24-27, which includes a parade, floats, a carnival and games as wells as berries galore.

There’s also Vista Strawberry Festival on May 26 (Vista once declared itself the Strawberry Capital of the World,)  and Arroyo Grande Strawberry Festival May 25-26. Celebrating 36 years in 2019, Sunset magazine called the AG fest “The place to be on Memorial Weekend!”