Carnival & Fair News

The 2025 Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City had a sweet year, drawing a record-breaking 651,647 attendees, the highest attendance in the festival's 90-year history.

The 11-day celebration ran February 27 to March 9. Gate admission was $15, and ride wristbands were priced at $30. There were a wide range of discounts available as well, including Senior Citizens Day, when guests 60 and older received $5 off gate admission; a Credit Union-sponsored Free Kids Day; a Food and Fun Friday, on which guests presenting any Publix branded or GreenWise non-perishable item received a voucher for $5 off the $30 ride wristband; a discounted Super Saturday Wristband Day; and TwosDay, when kids were admitted free with a paid adult and a single carnival ride was priced at just $2, with wristbands priced at $25.

Other special days included Family Day, Grand Parade Day, Ride-A-Thon Day, and American Heroes Day, when all active, reserve, and retired military veterans, law enforcement, first responders, and healthcare professionals were admitted free with valid ID.



This year, the festival featured an array of new live entertainment, a robust selection of carnival rides, and of course, all things strawberry. Florida Strawberry Festival president Kyle Robinson noted his pleasure in and gratitude for 2025's high attendance number but added that the festival's goal “is not to break the record each year,” but rather to “to continue being an entertainment destination where our guests have fun in a safe and affordable environment and want to visit each year.”

Citing the festival's well-known friendly vibes, he adds “The Florida Strawberry Festival celebrated two exciting changes this year. First, Deggeller Attractions joined our festival family by becoming our carnival provider. They provided our guests with a new experience, and we are looking forward to a long relationship with the Deggeller family.”

Deggeller Attractions Debuts

Andy Deggeller of Deggeller Attractions was beyond pleased with his company's first year at the Florida Strawberry Fest. “The fair was extremely accommodating and helped us with anything we needed moving onto the fairgrounds and throughout the event. We feel we will be able to work well together in the future. They value a lot of the same things that we value, and they are willing to explore new ideas,” said Deggeller.

Deggeller purchased the midway contract from Belle City Amusements, part of a deal that Deggeller and Belle City announced last October. “Before the festival, we had an opportunity to meet with the board members and they were very welcoming. It made the first year a lot easier on us”, said Deggeller.



“After our first year playing the event, we have a lot of ideas on how to improve the midway next year and do things a little different. All in all, it was an excellent fair. I see a lot of potential,” stated Deggeller.

Deggeller Attractions brought 80 rides to the event, including a bevy of kiddie rides in the Sun n' Fun Aerospace Expo Kiddie Korral, including favorites like the Berry Go Round, Dumbos, Teacups, and Farm Tractors, as well as gentle thrills of the Dragon Coaster.

On the main midway, Deggeller provided a wide range of rides including the Wave Swinger, Space Port, Hydra, and the Rock N Roll Himalaya. The show supplemented its ride arsenal with pieces from Arnolds Amusements and Wood Entertainment. “Michael Wood and The Arnolds did a great job,” stated Deggeller.

One of the things that stood out to Andy was how well local law enforcement worked with the committee to help keep the event safe. “The committee has a great relationship with the police. The level of professionalism among the law enforcement at the event was awesome,” echoed Deggeller.

Headline Shows

According to Robinson, music also played a large part in the fair's success. “The Strawberry Festival took a giant leap in our effort to continue to bring stellar headline entertainment to our community by demolishing our 34-year-old stage and working with Rock City Staging to bring a new entertainment experience.”

Robinson explains that “Over the years, our former stage has hosted some of the largest names in entertainment, but we knew we needed to make some changes to remain relevant in the concert entertainment environment. Our partnership with Rock City enables us to provide our guests with a larger performance area, larger video walls, and improved sound and lighting.” He describes 2025's entertainment line-up as consisting “of 22 concerts in 11 days [that] included REBA, Lauren Daigle, Bailey Zimmerman, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more. Our guests were blown away with the new changes.”



Jennifer L. Morgan, who handles media and PR for the festival, notes that food was, as always, another big winner at the fest. “Pay attention to the deep-fried strawberry shortcake,” she enthuses. Offered by KD Concessions, the treat offered a crispy, deep-fried twist on a classic strawberry shortcake. Morgan adds that “Old-time favorites that are always well-received from year to year are the Smitty's corn dogs and island noodles. Our guests also rave about Peachey's Amish donuts.” New food vendors were plentiful as well, she reports. Among the new offerings were the strawberry slaw dog, combining a mini sausage in a toasted bun with sweet, tangy strawberry slaw topped with strawberry sauce or fresh slices from Plant City Athletics Booster Club; warm and gooey gluten-free chocolate chip cookies from Sugar Mama's GF Sweet Treats; a creamy, cheesy, and smoky new take on macaroni and cheese from Brody's Mac & Cheese; and chocolate covered strawberry lemonade from George's Fun Foods.

Strawberry treats abounded of course, from a deep-fried strawberry and cream cake roll to a Mr. Pibb's strawberry and banana dirty soda; and strawberry cookie dippers, crunch cake, salad, crunch berries, strawberry pecan chicken salad, strawberry crunch waffle chips, a strawberry cannoli funnel cake, strawberry chicken wings, and even a strawberries & cream cinnamon roll served up at Grandma Brown's Cinnamon Rolls.

Besides the massive selection of food booths, there were eight food contests as well, including the fan-favorite Strawberry Shortcake Eating Contest. For this event, ten competitors were drawn at random to participate, each served a 4-pound shortcake with whipped cream and strawberries. The event was divided into two parts: the first eight minutes, a spoon was utilized by contestants, while for the final two minutes, only hands were used. Canadian contestant Ellamae Hanley won the event.  

Other food events included The Super Dog Mega Corndog Eating Contest, Adult Strawberry Stemming Contest, Youth Strawberry Stemming Contest, Deep-Fried Strawberry Shortcake on a Stick, Strawberry Pizza Pie Eating Contest, Strawberry Mashed Potato Pie Eating Contest, and Amish Donut Eating Contest.



There were a number of new additions to the festival this year, such as the comfort enhancing ByHeart Mother & Baby Suite, and the Citizens Bank & Trust Comfort Zone, a shaded area for some cool relaxation.

According to Robinson, this year's event overall brought guests “more to see, do, and taste than ever before.” This included free grounds entertainment and attractions such as Amazing Veranica & Her Incredible Friends canine show; “An Evening with Patsy” featuring the Soundtraxx Band; The Darrell Sykes Band; country favorite Bryce Mauldin; and Hilby the Skinny German Juggle Boy.

Also new on the festival grounds this year was the Wheels of Agriculture Game Show, an interactive family event; the SQUAWKAmazing Bird Show; Buford Bear & His Miniature Truck; and the beauty of the Butterfly Kingdom Experience, featuring hundreds of live butterflies. On Monday, March 3rd, the festival even offered a special hands-on crafting event at the Home Depot Kids Workshop.

Livestock did not receive short shrift either: exhibitors in the Mosaic Youth Steer Show sold the grand champion steer, exhibited by Brielee Bedenbaugh, for $20 per pound by SG Trailer Sales. In all, 112 livestock exhibitors all sold steers, with no exhibitors earning less than $5 per pound. Robinson describes the support for the exhibitors as “a true testament to the dedication of our agriculture community, local businesses, and the people of Plant City.” In all, the festival hosts swine, steer, beef cattle, dairy cattle, lamb, chicken, and rabbit livestock shows.

Robinson notes that “We have seven livestock shows and our youth in agriculture also auction off their steer, swine, and plant projects. Their hard work and the generosity of our community resulted in total sales in excess of $1,700,000. This money goes directly to our youth to assist them in their future endeavors when they graduate from high school.”

Robinson is not resting on his laurels – or strawberries. “The goal of the Florida Strawberry Festival is to continue bringing our guests something new and exciting while always maintaining that down-home friendly atmosphere we are known for. With over 400 vendors and concessionaires we have something for everyone's interest. Most importantly, we continue to focus on being an agricultural fair. We are continuing to attract first time visitors while maintaining our loyal festival family members who join us each year. If we can continue this trajectory, we should have many successful years ahead of us,” Robinson says.

And speaking of next year, the festival is already “seeking ways to improve the guests' experience. In 2024, we broke a single day attendance record, and an overall attendance record, only to break both records in 2025 with a single day attendance of over 118,000 and an overall attendance record of more than 651,000.”

With this exponential growth in mind, he asserts that “It is imperative we create more space for guests to walk and enjoy the festival. We recently purchased 8 parcels of land east of the festival grounds and are working to determine the best use for the land so we can expand our perimeter. As everyone knows, a fair or festival can never have too many restrooms, so we plan to build new restrooms in the center of the midway to accommodate the large crowds. We are also in the permitting phase of constructing a 15,000 square foot air-conditioned building that will include a grounds act stage, vendors, restrooms, and of course --a booth that sells strawberry shortcakes.”

Next year's event will take place February 26 to March 8, 2026.