It is my firm belief that every small town in America should have a lighthearted regional festival themed around a specific local food. Gilroy has its garlic festival. Monterey County has one devoted to artichokes. Mendocino County has an annual Apple Show (while Sebastopol, just down Highway 101, has an entire festival celebrating apple blossoms). The Seattle suburb where I was born and raised is known for its salmon festival, which is particularly close to my heart.
It is also my belief that the best case scenario for said themed festival (sorry to the Yale Bologna Festival, the West Virginia Roadkill Cook-off and the Texas Testicle Festival) is for your city’s crowning achievement to be something as cheery and sweet as the strawberry. And Watsonville, California, is that fortunate place. Strawberries are one of the area’s primary crops, and berry giant Driscoll's company headquarters are within city limits. The agricultural hub, one and a half hours south of San Francisco, is the self-declared (but dubious) “Strawberry Capital of the World.”
Last weekend, the beloved Watsonville Strawberry Festival returned for the first time since 2019. Normally a three-day event drawing 30,000 to 40,000 people, this year’s iteration was scaled down to one day and dropped the carnival component because of COVID-19. But with an abundance of strawberry-themed snacks, art and music, the smaller festival was still a joyful return for the sweetest place on Earth.
As a lifelong strawberry obsessive (I have the strawberry tattoo to prove it), I considered the drive to Watsonville from my Oakland home as a bit of a pilgrimage. For the first time, I didn’t feel ridiculous pairing my strawberry earrings with my strawberry-patterned shirt. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be the only one dressing up.
And I was correct. Immediately upon stepping into the festival’s busy grounds, I was upstaged by a young woman in a full-body strawberry mascot costume, complete with a tiara. She smiled winningly and waved her elegantly gloved hands for a photo. I later learned she held the illustrious title of Watsonville Strawberry Princess.
I also glimpsed someone wearing the TikTok-famous sequined strawberry dress — a rare real-life encounter with a viral social media phenomenon. The dress-wearer paired it with a curly bright red wig and a chunky strawberry necklace. At the Strawberry Festival, it’s go big or big home.
What makes these quirkily themed regional festivals such a delight is that they’re an opportunity to get creative with themed food. Where else in the world, I ask you, would you find strawberry tacos on pink tortillas, strawberry pizza, strawberry waffles and strawberry paletas all on a single city block?
Out of this abundance of strawberry-centric options, I decided on a slice of strawberry pizza. Its unexpected red topping nestled among bits of sausage on a bed of garlicky cheese. Biting into it, my senses were initially confused about whether I was eating something sweet or savory. But it was good — surprisingly so. The strawberries broke up the saltiness of the cheese and sausage like the chunks of pineapple on a Hawaiian pizza.
For dessert, I went with a less adventurous choice: fresas con crema. The combination of fresh, tart strawberries topped with a mountain of sweetened cream never fails, especially while lying in the sun listening to the boisterous orchestra of Sonora Santanera La Nueva Sangre.
Sweeter still, the proceeds from the food sold at the Strawberry Festival benefited local nonprofit groups like the Pajaro Valley Education Foundation and Families in Transition, while the event recognized the local agricultural workers picking the starring fruit with the “Watsonville Campesino Appreciation Caravan.”
"They're always out there. They're always out there picking the strawberries and this festival is because of them," Ruby Vasquez, part of the appreciation caravan, told KION News.
While the Watsonville Strawberry Festival was more low-key than usual this year — I would’ve loved to go on a strawberry-themed teacup ride or try the 35 different strawberry food items in 2019’s festival — the mood was one of outsized joy.
Here’s hoping that in 2022, Watsonville can honor its ruby red crown jewel in full, over-the-top form.