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| The Pungo Strawberry Festival | |||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Aside from your average beach visit, there is nothing more relaxing than spending a day surrounded by strawberries and others who share an interest in that fruit. The Pungo Strawberry Festival in Virginia Beach this weekend was just the place to go. Although the festival only lasted from May 27th to the 28th, there was plenty of entertainment, food and shopping to be done on both days. There was something for almost everyone to enjoy, from young children to older adults. The wait to get into the festival was time consuming and exhausting, but it was well worth it in the end. Just before you even get into the festival and start on the strawberry trail, you have to park your car out in the strawberry orchards. So even before the excitement begins, you're already getting to smell the fresh essence of newly grown strawberries out in the field. | |||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Entertainment during the festival was not all that difficult to find. With the festival setup as if it were a small, country dirt town, everything was within walking distances of each other. There were three stages that several bands played on throughout the day; The Strawberry Stage, The Country Stage and The Pungo Stage, each one in its own unique location. So if you fancied sitting or lying down under the sun on warm patches of grass, the Country and Pungo stages were the perfect spots. While guests frolicked in the sun at the other two stages, most other guests could be found pleasantly seated under shade at the Strawberry stage. With the cool protection of the surrounding trees to protect them from the sun, guests found it easier to enjoy the soft, gentle music that flowed from the Strawberry stage. Not only did most guests enjoy the comfort of sitting under a cool, shaded tree, but they also enjoyed watching Bobby the Clown. He was the only colorfully-dressed clown throughout the entire festival and the only place he could be found doing magic card tricks was at the Strawberry stage. There was also a pie-eating contest at the Strawberry stage along with dance routines by Attitude Dance Studio and even a karate demonstration by Dragon Force Karate. Along with the plentiful band and events on any of the three stages, there was also a small mini carnival for small children and adults alike to enjoy. There were several games to choose from where you could win small and large prizes. Some were fairly easy, while others were quite a challenge to overcome, like the ones that required more skills than strength. One of the games that caught my attention was where I had to throw rings at the tops of a large group of bottles. The point of the game was to try and ring one of the bottle openings, but with the rings being so rubbery, it was difficult to get them on. They had to be tossed just right, otherwise they would just bounce off the second they hit the openings of the glass bottles. Now in order to play the games, of course, you had to pay a small fee of about ten or so dollars in exchange for tickets used to play the games and ride the rides. | |||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Now, what's a strawberry festival without strawberries? There were lots of strawberry shops set up all over the festival. Some were actually walk-in stores, while others were small brightly, colored marked vendors. Although when you first get to the festival, within the first ten minutes of walking there really are not that many strawberry oriented venders. Not until you reach the end of the so-called strawberry trail are there a vast amount of strawberries to enjoy. From strawberry shortcakes to strawberry daiquiris, you could find a wide assortment of strawberry-made recipes. A lot of the people who came to the festival and set up a vender brought with them their own strawberry recipes to be shared with all festival guests. All along the strawberry trail were other food venders whose variety of treats filled the air with a breathtaking aroma. One large portion of the festival was devoted to just that, inviting guests to enjoy the insatiable smell and taste of freshly steamed vegetables or even hot barbeque hot off the grill. With the weather being hot and humid all day, the assortment of drinks that were also sold throughout the day kept everyone from being dehydrated from the heat. | |||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Along with being able to enjoy the taste of fresh strawberries, there were a couple of venues that sold strawberries by the basket or in small containers to bring home. They all sold at fairly cheap prices and, of course, if anyone wanted to pick their own strawberries, there was a small strawberry patch just outside the festival grounds where guests could return at a later date to hand-pick strawberries. Aside from the aura of strawberries throughout the festival, there were many other venders that sold an assortment of items for guests to purchase. You could buy beach signs to post around your home and there was even a shop that sold seat hammocks for people to hang on their porch to swing on. There were many others who also sold small trinkets, like candles, while others sold various sized pictures to hang around your home. As well as actual shopping venders, there were also company venders trying to advertise their business along with informative booths, like Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E), and fund raisers for girl scouts. Most of the shopping venders could be found in one of the large parking lots that were set up to be one of the many strawberry streets. Not all of the shopping venders were located in that one particular spot though, they could also be found in various locations along the strawberry trail. | |||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Overall, the strawberry festival was quite enjoyable. It lasted from nine in the morning to seven in the evening, so there was more than enough time to watch most of the events, win a few prizes at the mini carnival and try all the homemade strawberry dishes people brought. The fee to get into the festival itself was free, but to park your car it was a small price of five dollars. With all the people that attended the festival and what was there to be enjoyed, five dollars was a pretty good price to park and enjoy the many strawberry-related festivities. | |||||||||||||||||
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